China has embraced the challenge of putting up the world’s tallest building in only 90 days. The 838-meter skyscraper, dubbed Sky City, is set to house 17,400 people as well as a hotel, a hospital, several schools, offices and apartments.

­Construction workers from the Broad Sustainable Building company are expected to build at a rate if five stories a day to meet the deadline. To speed the process up, they will reportedly use the ‘prefabrication’ technique in which blocks of the building are constructed offsite and then pieced together.

The skyscraper, located in Hunan Province’s capital Changsha, will feature over 100 high-speed elevators, and is expected to be able to withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake.

When completed, the building will be 10 meters taller than the Dubai landmark Burj Khalifa, the world’s current tallest building, which took five years to build. China’s Sky City is set to cost half as much as the Burj – about $630 million.

China-based Broad Sustainable Building will employ several thousand workers for the ambitious project. The company has already built 16 structures in China, including a 30-story hotel constructed in 15 days.

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Half the price at 20 times the speed. What will the building stats look like in another 20 years? Double the height, quarter the price at 200 times the speed? Thats 9 days at $315 million at double height . . . one can imagine high tech light weight reconstituted materials straight from landfills being used by then . . . so if a superhighway connected EVERY single states’ tower . . .

The floorage and ‘balcony-age’ of the pic doesn’t look very impressive though. Perhaps higher ceilings and more balcony space would be more city like, vehicular access via connected ramps right up to the top would then truly mean ‘City’. Without vehicle (or at least some kind of golf cart sized internal vehicle) access, or massive multistorey high ‘green lungs’, and massive multistorey high sky-lobbies the ‘City’ name for any building is but a misnomer.

ARTICLE 2

Royal Mail to step up action against dog owners after more than 3,000 attacks on postal workers in a year – by Daily Mail Reporter – PUBLISHED: 01:54 GMT, 24 November 2012 | UPDATED: 02:00 GMT, 24 November 2012

The Royal Mail pledged today to take more action against owners of dogs that attack postal workers after a new report called for tougher legislation.

The postal group said it will actively pursue legal action against the owners of dangerous dogs and take a more ‘robust’ approach to suspending deliveries to addresses where attacks take place.

The moves follow publication of an independent inquiry into dog attacks on postal staff, which the Royal Mail said numbered more than 3,000 in the year to April.
Sort it out: Royal Mail are pressing for action after thousands of attacks on its workers by dogs

Sort it out: Royal Mail are pressing for action after thousands of attacks on its workers by dogs

Former High Court judge Sir Gordon Langley recommended that new legislation should be introduced to provide tougher legal sanctions against owners of dangerous dogs.

The report pointed out that action cannot be taken if an attack takes place on private property, limiting legal protection available to postmen and women.

Guilty of cruelty but not even fined: Circus owner who let Anne the elephant be chained and beaten walks free

The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which has criticised the Government for failing to take action on dangerous dogs, said today’s report should be the catalyst needed to bring action.

The union said the number of postal workers suffering dog attacks was nearer 5,000 a year.

Sir Gordon’s report called on the Government to repeal current legislation and provide a new statute so that legal action can be taken against dog owners, wherever an attack takes place.

New laws have already been introduced in Scotland and Northern Ireland, with legislation planned in Wales.

Making a stance: The Royal Mail has said it will take legal action against owners of dogs who have attacked postmen and women

Sir Gordon said: ‘It is a matter of real concern to learn of the extent and frequency of attacks on postal workers and to find that for a considerable time there has been almost general agreement not only on the inadequacies of the present law in England and Wales but also on the nature of the reforms required to address it, but to date it remains unchanged.’

Royal Mail chairman Donald Brydon said: ‘Dog attacks cause injuries and terrible trauma to our staff. Nobody should have to endure this and our staff are at an increased risk of such attacks simply because of the job they do.

‘We welcome the findings in Sir Gordon Langley’s independent report, especially his call for an urgent reform of the laws in England and Wales. We have also taken on board his comments that Royal Mail should take a more robust approach with customers whose dogs attack postmen and women. We will adjust our policies immediately.’

CWU general secretary Billy Hayes said: ‘Sir Gordon’s recommendations take on board our own long-standing campaign objectives of securing new UK-wide laws which apply on private property, moving away from breed-specific legislation, introducing microchipping and getting serious when it comes to prosecution and punishment.

‘England will soon be the only part of the UK without updated dogs laws as Scotland and Northern Ireland have already introduced new improved legislation and Wales is legislating in the current session.

‘This Government has procrastinated and steadfastly refused to act on the issue of dangerous dogs while people continue to suffer serious injuries and lose their lives in dog attacks.’

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Suspension of services for the period required for the same postman to heal up, and compensation of paid leave if needed and hospital bills, perhaps temporary replacement staff or payment of double shifts for those taking over from the injured postman, should make the owners of vicious dogs cautious to keep their home gate shut at mail delivery time for both their own pocket’s, and the postman’s health. If your dog bites the postman, you pay for leave, replacement staff, or medical expenses. At the same time, the post service needs to have a sort of schedule as well so that owners who do let their animals out can take the effort to keep the animals in at the right times.

ARTICLE 3

Thailand police fire tear gas at anti-government protests

Saturday, November 24, 2012 – 09:23 AM

Anti-government protesters calling for Thailand’s Prime Minister to step down launched a rally in Bangkok today that authorities feared would grow into the biggest demonstration the country has seen since she took office last year.

The rally, which was expected to draw tens of thousands of protesters, was mostly peaceful in its early stages.

Police, however, fired tear gas to disperse between 50 to 100 people who tried to break through a line of concrete barricades erected on a street near the protest site.

Earlier in the week, premier Yingluck Shinawatra ordered nearly 17,000 police to deploy and invoked a special security law, citing concerns that the rally could turn violent.

She also accused demonstrators of seeking to overthrow her elected government.

The demonstration underscores the still-simmering political divisions that have split the country since the army toppled Ms Yingluck’s brother Thaksin Shinawatra in a 2006 military coup.

Led by retired army general Boonlert Kaewprasit, the group accuses Ms Yingluck’s administration of corruption, ignoring insults to the revered monarchy and being a puppet of her brother.

Addressing several thousand protesters on the rally’s central stage, Mr Boonlert vowed the demonstration would remain peaceful. But he said: “I promise that Pitak Siam will succeed in driving this government out.”

He then led the crowd in a chant: “Yingluck, get out! Yingluck, get out!”

The rally was being held at Bangkok’s Royal Plaza, a public space near parliament that has been used by protesters in the past.

Police allowed protesters into the site, and two roads leading to it were open. But in an effort to control access, security forces erected concrete barriers on another road leading to Royal Plaza.

When between 50 to 100 protesters tried to break through one of the barriers, a contingent of around 500 police fired tear gas and beat them back with batons.

While Pitak Siam is a newcomer to Thailand’s protest scene, it is linked to the well-known Yellow Shirt protesters, whose rallies led to Mr Thaksin’s overthrow.

The same movement later toppled a Thaksin-allied elected government after occupying and shutting down Bangkok’s two airports for a week in 2008.

Mr Thaksin remains a divisive figure in Thai politics. The Yellow Shirts and their allies say he is corrupt and accuse him of seeking to undermine the popular constitutional monarch – claims he denies.

Ms Yingluck was taking Saturday’s rally seriously – her cabinet invoked the Internal Security Act on Thursday in three Bangkok districts around the protest site and she later addressed the nation to explain the move, citing concerns of violence.

The security act allows authorities to close roads, impose curfews and ban use of electronic devices in designated areas. Measures began taking effect on Thursday night, with police closing roads around Ms Yingluck’s office, the Government House, and placing extra security at the homes of senior officials, including the prime minister.

In a nationally-televised address Ms Yingluck said protest leaders “seek to overthrow an elected government and democratic rule … and there is evidence that violence may be used to achieve those ends”.

National police chief spokesman Maj Gen Piya Uthayo said yesterday that 16,800 police officers had been called in from around the country to provide security for the rally.

Mr Boonlert, the protest group’s leader, is best known for his role as president of the Thailand Boxing Association. His name is unfamiliar in the anti-Thaksin protest movement, but his message appears to have resonated with Yellow Shirt supporters who have laid low in recent years after Ms Yingluck’s party won the last elections.

Analysts said they did not view the protest as an immediate threat to Ms Yingluck’s government, but were watching it closely.

“Any time you have tens of thousands of people converging, assembling in a central Bangkok location, it becomes a government stability concern,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.

But he added: “I think it’s a serious concern more than a serious threat.”

Thailand has been gripped by bouts of political instability since 2006, with Thaksin’s supporters and opponents taking turns to spar over who has the right to rule the country.

The most violent episode came in 2010, when Thaksin’s Red Shirt supporters led a two-month occupation of central Bangkok to demand the resignation of an anti-Thaksin government.

The protests sparked a military crackdown that left at least 91 people dead and more than 1,700 injured.

Mr Thaksin has lived in self-imposed exile since 2008, when he jumped bail to evade a corruption conviction and two-year jail term. He retains huge popularity among the rural poor, who want to see him pardoned and returned to power.

But he is reviled by the urban elite and educated middle class, who see him as authoritarian and a threat to the monarchy.

Buoyed by Mr Thaksin’s (ill gotten) political cash machine, Ms Yingluck was elected by a landslide victory in August 2011.

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Don’t bother rallying. GET THE MPs to remove Yingluck in a simple vote. Ralliers, don’t blocakade the Capital, instead, blockade the homes of MPs who wont get rid of Yingluck instead.

ARTICLE 4

Researchers Produce Self-Shaping Nanomachines That Can Be Mass Produced

Once again, the natural world has inspired the scientific world.

This time, it was the dandelion that inspired researchers to create a self-shaping nanomachine that can be reproduced through an automated process.

The ability to mass produce these microscopic machines opens the door to a multitude of applications from medicine to military. However, like with any great discovery there is a dark side.

Many people believe that if the nanomachine is successfully created and mass produced, it will be the cause of Armageddon in a scenario that theorists call the Gray Goo.

Researchers from the University of Washington in the U.S. and Aalto University in Finland discovered that these nanomachines could in fact be massed produced with a trick they observed in nature with a dandelion.

The researchers realized that building most machines, including nanomachines, begins with the shaping of metals. Exploring this fundamental of fabrication and hoping to find some sort of cue in nature, the researchers discovered that dandelion stems (when cut into small strips) were placed in water, they would bend and curl.

The different shapes were dependent on the amount of water absorption on the two sides of the strips. The key was to replicate these formations with metal, and use some sort of catalyst that would trigger the bending.

Self-Shaping Metals

The team discovered that the same results occurred with the nanoscale metal materials when an ion beamed was used. Like the dandelion strips, the microscopic metals began to bend and curl.

Then, the researchers were able to use the ion beam to create specific and even complex shapes.

They were able to start with a three-dimension hexagon shape. Then, they applied the ion beam to the metal shape, which caused it to open, or bloom like a flower. The researchers were even able to construct microscopic cubes using the same technique.

However, the structures also possessed characteristics that the researchers were not expecting.

According to the team, the resulting nanostructures were also quite resilient. It appears that the structures were able to withstand harsh conditions, such as extreme heat and electrostatic discharge. Furthermore, the nanostructures were also able to capture and hold particles that are roughly a micrometer in size.

Even though the research is promising, it is still in the preliminary stages. The team asserted:

“However, we believe that we are just scratching the tip of the iceberg: a comprehensive theory of ion-assisted self-assembly processes is yet to be reached.” (1)

Will a Nano-Future Trigger Armageddon?

As promising as the possible applications are, there are some who believe any self-assembly process on a nanoscale would be the beginning of the end: a scenario commonly referred to as the Gray Goo.

The phrase was coined in 1986 by Eric Drexler, an American engineer and nanotech pioneer. The term refers to result of nanorobots self-assembling to the point where they appear to be this massive gray ooze that consumes everything in its path.

The “consumption” involved in this scenario is the process of the nanorobots turning organic material into more nanorobots. Even though this scenario makes for fantastic science fiction reading, it does not really make for great science.

There are several aspects of the gray goo scenario that make it implausible. One theory is that any self-assembly /self-replicating process would have checks and balances in place to prevent an out-of-control replicating process.

Furthermore, the system proposed here, like most, is more akin to a factory assembly line than reproducing bacteria, which is how the gray goo is often described.

Think of it as an automobile factory. Much of it is automated, but it does not have the means nor the resources to produce at an out-of-control pace that would overtake the world.

Finally, the gray goo would need massive computing power and complex chemistry to even survive the environment. (3) Most scientists agree that the gray goo scenario is an outdated premise that is better left to science fiction.

With that in mind, the discovery made by the researchers from the University of Washington in the U.S. and Aalto University in Finland is very much a breakthrough that should be celebrated, not feared.

Dennis Dufrene is the resident historian and technical writer. With this background, Dennis brings insight and accuracy to the stories published here at Top Secret Writers. Dennis has 379 post(s) at Top Secret Writers

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i) There are several aspects of the gray goo scenario that make it implausible. One theory is that any self-assembly /self-replicating process would have checks and balances in place to prevent an out-of-control replicating process.

There are none, if the hacker of the AI controlling the nanobots has no scruples. We all know that code can be changed depending on the user/hacker.

ii) Furthermore, the system proposed here, like most, is more akin to a factory assembly line than reproducing bacteria, which is how the gray goo is often described. . . .

Wheres the logic in that statement? Eh? Wot? That makes no sense at all. The article writer needs to make sense or study grammar. SO WHAT if ‘gray goo’ is described as ‘factory assembly line’? Whats to stop the programmer or hacker make the nanobot swarm behave like grey goo regardless of how the nanobot is created? See below article for how the AI controlling the nanobots are more important in determining gray goo behaviour than how the individual nanobot is created. Nanobots are fatal weapons if used on Nuclear Plants. So unless a nanomite-wall is already possible, all likelihood that containment areas are being perforated by nanomites chewing their way into the Nuclear facility, so keep building more Nuclear plants and enjoy your terrorist nanotech irradiators, any plant could go boom or crack up and collapse from within from ‘nanomite undermining’ of super structures, and not a terrorist would have to even be near the piece of sh1t irradiative eco-disaster in the waiting . . . Ostrich burying head in sand alert anyone?

ARTICLE 5

Freeway Drones for a Futuristic Highway Patrol – November 24, 2012 6:05 pm – by PHIL PATTON / The New York Times

IT’S a future far from Ponch and Jon, the Los Angeles-based motorcycle officers of “CHiPs,” a TV series that rose to popularity in the 1970s. In this take on the California Highway Patrol of 2025, patrol cars and motorcycles would be replaced by computerized drones; chips take over CHiPs.

Here, the highway patrol vehicles of the future will be mostly self-driving, if you accept the solutions offered by the entries in this year’s Design Challenge, an annual competition organized in conjunction with the Los Angeles auto show. For the last nine years, the Design Challenge has invited automakers’ advanced design studios to dream up proposals for sci-fi automotive futures tied to specific themes, including cars that weighed less than 1,000 pounds or that were destined for Hollywood roles. This year’s competition asked designers to envision the highway patrol car of 2025.

By coincidence or destiny, designers at several companies came up with concepts for robotic, autonomously driven vehicles on ground, water and air. These future police cruisers — usually presented as story boards rather than actual vehicles — recall today’s Predator and Global Hawk drones, stars of the anti-insurgency efforts. They may give new meaning to those signs that read “Speed limit enforced by aircraft.”

In the future, as the organizers outlined it, “the vehicle should empower highway patrol officers to meet new demands and effectively both ‘protect and serve’ the public while considering not just enforcement needs but emission concerns, population growth and transportation infrastructure.” The world of 2025, the participants seem to agree, will be a place where traffic has grown exponentially, infrastructure has deteriorated, environmental constraints have increased — and highway patrol budgets have been reduced.

As envisioned by Honda R&D Americas’ advanced design studio in Pasadena, Calif., the future Honda CHP Drone Squad includes four-wheel Auto-Drones, like cars, and two-wheel Moto-Drones, like motorcycles. The proposal offers a future where the Auto-Drone functions as something of a command vehicle — manned or unmanned — that deploys Moto-Drones, even while on the move. The Moto-Drones could be rigged for a variety of different response or rescue tasks. While such vehicles might be decades from reality, the flexibility of this strategy could offer companies that built both types of vehicles an advantage in securing government contracts.

At the BMW DesignworksUSA studio in Newbury Park, Calif., designers dreamed up the E-Patrol (Human-Drone Pursuit Vehicle). In this arrangement, the officer and drone would work in harmony, like today’s officers and their K-9 partners. The BMW drone team would be able to deploy a flying drone, which resembles a high-tech Jet Ski cruise missile, or one of a pair of unicyclelike robotic vehicles to chase lawbreakers. And if the suspect doesn’t pull over? In the E-Patrol vision, the BMW designers say, their drone would disable the vehicle with an electromagnetic impulse.

The Subaru Highway Automated Response Concept vehicles, developed by Subaru Research and Development in Japan and designed specifically for Hawaii, are powered by renewable energy — and they have aquatic capability. “The cutting-edge SHARC patrol vehicles will provide an innovative, affordable and environmentally conscious solution for 24-hour highway monitoring,” the designers say.

The Volt Squad, dreamed up at General Motors’ Advanced Design Center in North Hollywood, Calif., is a set of future patrol vehicles that would take advantage of the propulsion system engineered for the Chevrolet Volt. The squad is composed of three different types of vehicles that still contain human officers. Each type is specially designed to observe, pursue or engage — the last term left menacingly undefined.

Judges for the Design Challenge include Tom Matano, director of the industrial design program at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco; Imre Molnar from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit; and Stewart Reed, chairman of the transportation design department at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The winner will be announced on Thursday at an event in conjunction with the auto show.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
First Published November 24, 2012 6:01 pm

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

1) And if the suspect doesn’t pull over? In the E-Patrol vision, the BMW designers say, their drone would disable the vehicle with an electromagnetic impulse.

Won’t work if your vehicle is wholly non-electronic. I can see a whole new generation of non-electronic manual gear based modders, who will keep any electronics away from the engine or gearbox, signal lights.

2) Each type is specially designed to observe, pursue or engage — the last term left menacingly undefined.

Engage? Unless walking robots are involved, all a criminal needs to do is get off the road, climb a tree (or a staircase), or hijack a car to confound the entire system. See below link for a better or auxillary robot that could be attached to the ‘car-bot’.

These kinds of weapons would make it more likely that a state would go to war…shifting the burden of conflict away from the military, those who are trained to fight, to civilians who will bear the brunt of any mistakes that these killer robots make. And they will inevitably make mistakes,” Stephen Goose, the arms division director of Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch has called for an international ban on ‘killer robots’ – autonomous machines that independently decide their targets, Press TV reports.

“They’re weapons where there is no human intervention. That is, the armed robot itself makes the decision about what its target should be and when it should pull the trigger,” Stephen Goose, the arms division director of Human Rights Watch told Press TV.

“Killer robots are the shorthand name for fully autonomous weapons. These are something we think of as being beyond drones,” Goose said, adding that “the farther down the road this gets, the harder it’s going to be to stop it.”

The expert said an international ban, as well as prohibitions in each country, must be started before these robots become the future of war.

“The more money that’s poured into it, the more time passes, the more they’re going to get integrated into future war plans and into the doctrine of various militaries. We think the only way to approach this is to nip it in the bud and to have a prohibition now,” Goose added.

Goose criticized the role of the United States military in the “secretive and classified” development of these deadly weapons.

The US Pentagon has begun a contest, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Robotics Challenge, to advance its efforts to develop robotic soldiers to fight the wars of the future, focusing on testing the robots’ abilities to work in difficult situations designed for humans that “simulate conditions in a dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environment.”

He added that these weapons would violate the proportionality test, which is required under international humanitarian law to weigh the advantages of an attack against possible civilian casualties.

“These kinds of weapons would make it more likely that a state would go to war…shifting the burden of conflict away from the military, those who are trained to fight, to civilians who will bear the brunt of any mistakes that these killer robots make. And they will inevitably make mistakes,” Goose concluded.

Dotcom says he could sue US government for $2.6 billion – by Kim Schmitz – Monday 26 November 2012, 12:45

MegaUpload founder Kim ‘Dotcom’ Schmitz has threatened to sue the US government after the revelation that some of the pirated content listed as being on his former company’s servers by prosecutors had been left there at the request of the American Department Of Justice.

MegaUpload, of course, was shut down at the start of the year by the US authorities amidst allegations of money laundering, racketeering and copyright infringement against the company and its management, four key members of which, including Dotcom, are living in New Zealand and are currently fighting efforts to extradite them to America.

Amongst other things, prosecutors claim that MegaUpload operated a deliberately shoddy takedown system for removing copyright material once made aware of it, whilst also encouraging users to upload unlicensed music, movies and TV shows, because doing so ensured the wider Mega platform had a constant supply of popular content, driving traffic, ad sales and subscriptions, even though rights owners were never paid a penny.

But Dotcom and the Mega team insist their company operated within US copyright law, removing unlicensed content in line with America’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act. And even more than that, it was revealed earlier this month that the company itself occasionally assisted the DoJ when it was investigating other companies accused of piracy which stored and distributed illegal content via the Mega platform.

One such piracy operation was NinjaVideo, and, now say Mega’s legal team, some of the content prosecutors have listed in their case against Dotcom actually belonged to that venture, and was not deleted by MegaUpload because of a request from the DoJ, which wanted the unlicensed files to remain accessible while it continued to investigate Ninja’s activities.

According to reports, prosecutors say that’s no excuse, because some of the content stored in NinjaVideo’s locker on MegaUpload was also available elsewhere on the Mega platform, and, now knowing for certain that that content was unlicensed because of the Ninja investigation, the digital firm should have removed the additional copies. But Mega’s lawyers say that their clients were cautious of doing platform-wide deletions of that content, in case it impacted on the NinjaVideo content that formed part of the DoJ’s case.

Quite how relevant the NinjaVideo content is to the wider MegaUpload case isn’t clear, but that didn’t stop Dotcom telling his Twitter followers that the DoJ was “a gang of rogue US attorneys out of control”, before revealing that he’d been advised: “We can sue the US govt or MPAA members for $2.6 billion in damages for the destruction of our businesses”.

Although access to MegaUpload’s fortune has been frozen since the US government shut down the Mega business in January, Dotcom says he soon hopes to have financial backing to allow a lawsuit against America.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Focus on democracy and at very most demand formal apologies (for what could be domestic terrorism), and equitable damages probably in the tune of a few 10Ks for inconvenience and living expenses or the few months lost etc.., instead. The US govermnent could hide behind the department concerned, and a single department cannot be liable to 2.6 billion in compensation. Besides, given the state of the economy, no way will payouts of this level be possible. 2.6 billion cannot even be given to Middle Eastern military contractors on the US’s side, so for certain Kim cannot expect this sort of compensation as well. Be reasonable Kim, public apologies by the department and sums reasonable that the department gets in yearly allotments could be demanded (I doubt they get 2.6 billion), but the government would be untouchable. I’m on your side Kim, but if I were the US government and had to pay 2.6 billion when US finances were this bad, might as well call in an assassin and avoid court expenditures and payout. This is not an apartheid case, but more like an abuse of power case . . . strike a spiritual blow for freedom and demand AMENDMENTS TO LAW instead of monies that don’t change anything, money can be taken away or the owner of the money killed, LAWS cannot be taken away, and if the people are educated, laws can prevent extreme powers by the state. Forget about the payout thing. Won’t work.

ARTICLE 8

Megaupload Boss Kim Dotcom Offers To Surrender, Face Trial In U.S. Without Extradition

Megaupload founder and accused piracy king Kim Dotcom has offered to forgo his delayed extradition trial and come to the U.S. to fight the charges against him and three others.

Dotcom said on Twitter that the Department of Justice must meet certain ground rules first, however.

“Hey DOJ, we will go to the US. No need for extradition,” he wrote on the micro-blogging site. “We want bail, funds unfrozen for lawyers & living expenses.”

The offer comes a day after a New Zealand court delayed an extradition hearing until March due to ongoing legal hearings regarding the seizure of evidence from an illegal raid on Dotcom’s mansion.

“We are not expecting to hear back regarding the offer and I remain committed to fighting extradition in New Zealand,” he added.

Despite the charges against him, Dotcom has vowed that Megaupload will return.

BGR

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Thaksin could learn from Schmidt. Thaksin should go back to Thailand and face the court with whatever foreign monitors in tow instead of using Yingluck as a proxy to disrupt Thailand.

ARTICLE 9

THE German government is about to reintroduce a ban on bestiality, after pressure from animal welfare groups.

Newspaper die Tageszeitung reports that the governing coalition are soon to amend the country’s Animal Welfare Act to make sex with animals punishable with a fine of up to 25,000 euros ($31,000).

Bestiality was legalised in Germany in 1969, the same year that gay sex was also removed from the criminal code. After that, sex with animals was only punishable if the animal was severely injured.

However animal welfare groups have pushed for the ban to be reinstated, in an advertising campaign that used dramatic examples of “animal rape”.

Agriculture minister Ilse Aigner has agreed to change the law to make it illegal for people to “use (animals) for their own sexual activities or sexual acts of third parties” – which also bans the ‘pimping’ of animals to others.

However the move has aroused the ire of zoophile group ZETA.

Lobbyist Michael Kiok, who lives with his dog Cassie, told the newspaper there were more than 100,000 zoophiles in Germany.

“Mere morals have no place in law,” he said.

Mr Kiok said he was worried that if the law took effect the authorities would try to take away his dog.

The amendment to the law will be debated in the German parliament in mid-December.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Good work to a point. 3rd party definitely applicable, but for personal use, there should be a panel who will judge if the animal is ‘happy’ or ‘suffering’, which is quite easy to do given the advanced brain scanning technologies they have today. While most of us wouldn’t indulge, always remember Voltaire and expand on the logic! Not just freedom of speech, but FREEDOM TO LIVE AS ONE WILL . . .

(Reuters) – Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, a leading strategist in confronting Iran over its nuclear programme, said in a surprise announcement on Monday that he would quit political life after the January 22 national election.

Some commentators speculated Barak was trying to duck a trouncing for his tiny centrist party in the ballot, after which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the front-running, right-wing Likud, might return him to defence and military headquarters as a professional appointee.

But others said 70-year-old Barak, who has served as prime minister and armed forces chief, may have had enough of campaigning and wanted to focus on resolving the Iranian issue before leaving his post.

“I stand before you to share my decision to resign from political life and not to run in the coming election for the Knesset,” Barak told a news conference, adding he would stay on as defence chief until a new administration is sworn in.

Speaking five days after an eight-day Gaza offensive ended in a ceasefire with the enclave’s Hamas Islamist rulers, Barak said he wanted to spend more time with his family and that politics “has never been a passion of mine”.

Should Barak’s resignation prove permanent his successor would likely come from Likud ranks. He might even be replaced by the current foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, the Likud’s more hawkish coalition partner.

Few doubt that this would affect the tenor of a ministry that oversees everything from armed conflict to administration of occupied Palestinian territory to liaising with regional power-broker Egypt.

Danny Yatom, an old army comrade of Barak’s who went on to serve as head of the Mossad spy agency, described him as a “moderate anchor” for a Netanyahu government whose sabre-rattling on Iran has often raised the hackles of the United States and other Western countries.

Yet Yatom, who served under Netanyahu during his first term as prime minister in the late 1990s, said the Israeli leader appeared to be patching up his testy ties with Barak Obama since the U.S. president’s re-election three weeks ago.

“I would think and hope that this relationship will provide the main guide for government policies” on Iran, Yatom said.

With Netanyahu, Barak has been at the forefront of Israel’s campaign for stronger international sanctions against Iran to halt what Israeli and Western leaders fear is a drive to produce nuclear weapons, allegations Tehran denies.

Raising speculation Israel could defy its main ally, the United States, and attack Iran on its own, Barak has cautioned that Tehran was nearing a “zone of immunity” that would put deeply buried and fortified nuclear facilities out of reach of Israel’s military capabilities.

But last month, he told Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper that an immediate crisis was avoided when Iran chose to use more than a third of its medium-enriched uranium for civilian purposes earlier this year.

The decision, he said “allows contemplating delaying the moment of truth by eight to ten months”.

“LEADING ADVOCATE”

Dennis Ross, a veteran U.S. envoy and former Obama adviser, called Barak “perhaps the leading advocate for military action against Iran”.

“He has had very close relationships with his U.S. counterparts, and while that has had an influence on his readiness to act militarily against Iran, he has been prepared for a unilateral Israeli strike if he thought that would be necessary,” Ross told Reuters.

“Whoever would replace him in the next government will be hard-pressed to have the same stature or influence both with the prime minister (Netanyahu) and with us,” he said.

Barak is both Israel’s most-decorated soldier and embraced abroad since his breakneck peacemaking campaigns during a brief tenure as prime minister in the mid-1990s. He has lent public credibility to Netanyahu’s veiled threats to attack Iran should diplomacy fail to curb its disputed uranium enrichment.

But after Netanyahu, in a September speech at the United Nations, said Israel’s “red line” on Iran now fell in mid-2013, Barak signalled that any war with the Persian power could wait.

Israeli officials say contingency plans for Iran have been in place for months, awaiting a green light from the government.

Such open discourse over a showdown that would stretch Israel’s military capabilities to the limit suggested a possible bluff – or at least, that Netanyahu and Barak, both former commandos schooled in subterfuge, hoped to achieve some kind of tactical surprise when the time came to pull the trigger.

Some might see a ruse in the show of retiring Barak who, on the eve of Israel’s shock 2008-2009 war in Gaza, made an unannounced live appearance on a top-rated Israeli television satire, seemingly to help drop the Palestinians’ guard.

With two months remaining until the election and several more weeks for the new coalition government to be formed, Barak said on Monday he would continue to deal with “many challenges” on the national security front, leaving open the possibility he would be part of fresh military actions in the interim.

Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon of the Likud appears to be a front-runner to replace Barak after the election, should Netanyahu, as expected, form the next government.

He has sword-rattled about Iran more volubly than Barak and, while the defence minister spoke in favour of U.S. President Barack Obama before his reelection this month, Yaalon had accused the Democratic administration of being soft on Tehran.

Other candidates to succeed Barak, according to defence officials, include Avi Dichter, a former security chief who is now the Likud minister in charge of preparing the homefront for war, and Lieberman, currently foreign minister.

As the only centrist member of the governing coalition of right-wing and pro-settler parties, Barak has frequently visited Washington for talks with top U.S. officials and had criticised Netanyahu for airing differences with the United States.

In a statement, Netanyahu said he “respects Defence Minister Ehud Barak’s decision and thanks him for his cooperation in the government and highly appreciates his long-standing contribution to the security of the state”.

The Hamas movement ruling Gaza saw Barak’s decision to quit as proof that this month’s Israeli assault on the enclave was a disaster.

“This is evidence of the political and military failure that the government of Netanyahu and his defence minister suffered,” said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

Israel has called its offensive a success, saying it destroyed most of Hamas’s long-range rocket arsenal and killed the Islamist group’s top militants.

If Israel cannot even annexe Gaza (though also return other lands not theirs) to the effect of having what effectively is a second Palestine, few would believe that Israel is going to fight Iran which has not been attacking Israel outright. Gaza conversely keeps attacking Israel with rockets but still exists. If Iran attacks Israel with rockets, Israel would go full scale against Iran. What gives? Proof of capability should be by annexing Gaza with as little casualties as possible. THEN Iran would take notice and take Israel seriously. If Israel cannot handle 100s of times smaller Gaza after decades, Israel sure as hell cannot handle 10s of times larger Iran.

JERUSALEM-ON-THE-LINE – November 27, 2012

“Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill.” Ps 3:1-4

ISRAEL SUCCESSFULLY TESTS DAVID’S SLING’S INTERCEPTOR: Israel has successfully conducted its first test of the David’s Sling’s Stunner interceptor missile, the Defense Ministry revealed Sunday night. David’s Sling is a missile defense system currently under development in Israel and the US. The system would defend against Iranian missiles such as the M600, the Zelzal, Fajr and Fateh 110 deployed heavily in Hizbullah hands in Lebanon as well as other missiles with a range between 43 miles and 186 miles. It is to become operational in 2014. (J.Post) “You are my hiding place and my shield: I hope in your word.” Ps 119:114

SATELLITES SHOW IRAN MOVING QUICKLY TO REARM HAMAS: Israeli intelligence satellites have spied the loading of rockets and other materiel believed to be destined for the Gaza Strip. According to the Sunday Times report, Iran began preparing the weapons shipment around the same time Israel and Hamas negotiated cease-fire understandings late last week. The shipment is said to include Iranian-made Fajr-5 medium-range rockets, the same model that was fired into the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas during Operation Pillar of Defense. Last month, following an air attack on a weapons plant near Khartoum, the Defense Ministry’s director of policy and political-military affairs accused Sudan of acting as a transit point for weapons shipments to Gaza. Amos Gilad accused Khartoum of aiding and abetting terrorism, and said the Sudanese regime was “supported by Iran” and was used as a route to transfer weapons to Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, via Egypt. Sudan accused Israel of attacking the military plant. The report also cited Israeli officials speculating that Iran could be moving longer-range ballistic missiles into Sudan, which could be aimed at Israel from the African country. Meanwhile, reports in Gaza said the Rafah smuggling tunnels, pummeled by the IAF over eight days, are already being rebuilt. (J.Post) “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.” Prov 26:11

AHMADINEJAD CONGRATULATES HAMAS ON ITS ‘VICTORY’: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday congratulated Gaza’s Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, on a “great victory” over Israel. Haniyeh in turn thanked Iran for its military aid and support. Haniyeh’s office said Ahmadinejad called late on Friday to praise Gaza’s “victory after eight days of Israeli aggression,” referring to Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense which targeted Hamas’ terror infrastructure in Gaza. “We stand beside the Palestinian people,” the Iranian president added. Parliament speaker Ali Larijani confirmed Iran had supplied military and financial aid to the Hamas terrorist group, which controls Gaza since taking power in a bloody coup in 2007. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari added that Tehran had provided the technology for the Fajr 5 missiles used to target Tel Aviv. He said they were now being rapidly produced in Gaza. Iranian officials confirmed Iran will continue to support terrorist groups in Gaza and elsewhere that fight Israel. (INN) “He, that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Prov 29:1

IDF CHIEF: DON’T WORRY, QUIET WILL LAST: IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz assured Israelis on Sunday there would be no more rocket fire from Gaza – “or else.” Speaking to new recruits Gantz recapped the recent Pillar of Defense counter terror operation in Gaza. He also described the ceasefire agreement that followed, pointedly assuring them the measures carried out a few days earlier would have a lasting effect. “The quiet will continue, and if not, we will resume our operations on whatever level is necessary,” Gantz said bluntly. In addition, Gantz addressed the apprehensions Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization may re-arm itself with newer rockets. The concern comes on the heels of an official confirmation by Iran that it has been exporting its missile technology, as well as “financial and military assistance” to terrorist groups in the region. The issue of Hamas attempting to increase its power is important, he said, but it is far from new. The IDF will continue to work towards disrupting the terrorist organization’s attempt to re-arm, Gantz said. (INN/Israel Today) Government and military decisions to agree to a premature ceasefire with the ruling Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip has severely shaken the confidence of Israel’s people in its leaders. As one Jerusalem news commentator pointed out: “There’s every possibility Hamas will recover and even enhance its military strength, and with the premature ceasefire having given the group a major boost of confidence, many Israelis are wondering what was the point of the limited aerial campaign their nation waged.” Pray for a truly deep and enduring shift to take place in the nation – one that will turn Jewish hearts to the only source of wisdom, help and deliverance that can be trusted – that of the God of Israel. “Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.” Ps 107:6

MORE RIOTING ON GAZA BORDER: There was more rioting on Sunday by Arabs near the fence separating Gaza and Israel. Voice of Israel radio reported that young Arabs approached the security fence near Khan Younis in the early evening, and that IDF soldiers fired warning shots in the air, as well as rubber-coated bullets toward whoever came too near to the fence. Three of the rioters were reportedly injured in the clashes. One Arab was killed on Friday in a similar incident along the Gaza fence. (Arutz-7) Pray these prowling Palestinian gangs along Israel’s security fence will be broken up and permanently dispersed, without achieving any of their destructive aims against the Jewish state.

HIZBULLAH SAYS IT COULD STRIKE ALL OF ISRAEL IN A FUTURE WAR: Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Sunday that thousands of rockets would rain down on Tel Aviv and cities across the Jewish state if it attacked Lebanon. Speaking four days after the ceasefire which ended a week of conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas rulers of Gaza, Nasrallah said Hizbullah’s response to any attack would dwarf the rocket fire launched from Palestinian territories. The Lebanese-based terrorist group, Hizbullah, which fought Israel in a 34-day war six years ago, says it has been re-arming since then and has a far deadlier arsenal than Hamas. Nasrallah has said Hizbullah could kill tens of thousands of people and strike anywhere inside Israel if hostilities break out again. The movement has warned any Israeli attack against the nuclear facilities of its patron Iran, which has armed and funded the Lebanese terrorist group as well as Hamas, would inflame the Middle East (Reuters) “The multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.” Isa 29:5

EGYPT’S POLITICAL FOES DIG IN THEIR HEELS: Supporters and opponents of Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi, on Sunday grew more entrenched in their potentially destabilizing battle over the Islamist leader’s move to assume near absolute powers, with neither side appearing willing to back down as the stock market plunged amid the fresh turmoil. Clashes between the two sides spilled onto the streets for a third day since the Islamist president issued edicts that make him immune to oversight of any kind, including that of the courts. A teenager was killed and dozens of people were wounded when a group of anti-Morsi protesters tried to storm the local offices of the political arm of the president’s Muslim Brotherhood in the Nile Delta city of Damanhoor. It was the first reported death from the street battles that erupted across much of the nation on Friday, the day after Morsi’s decrees were announced. The tensions also dealt a fresh blow to the economy, which has suffered due to the problems plaguing the Arab world’s most populous nation both prior to and since Mubarak’s ouster. (AP)

SYRIAN WAR SPILLS OVER INTO ISRAEL TWICE IN ONE DAY: The civil war in Syria spilled over into the Golan Heights in two separate incidents on Sunday. Residents in a religious Zionist town less than a kilometer from the border, reported on Sunday evening they heard explosions nearby, perhaps a result of a mortar shell that had been fired from Syria. The IDF said no evidence of a mortar had yet been identified. In a second incident on Sunday night, an IDF vehicle was hit by bullets fired from Syrian territory into Israel during the fighting between the sides. There were no injuries or damage. The IDF changed the rules of engagement along the northern border after the fighting in Syria spilled over into Israel more than once. The new orders instruct soldiers to respond if fire from Syria is dangerous and persistent. More than 40,000 people have been killed in 20 months of conflict between Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces and those fighting for his overthrow. About half the fatalities were civilians. (INN/J.Post)

ABBAS WARNS UN BID IS LAST CHANCE FOR PEACE: Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas claimed Saturday the entity’s renewed bid for UN membership is the “last chance” for Arab peace with Israel. The PA is hoping to create an independent, sovereign state in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and parts of Jerusalem that were restored to the Jewish capital in the 1967 Six-Day War. Previous efforts to evade the necessity of final status talks with Israel through application for membership in the UN have been stymied by Western nation, led by the United States. As head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which represents the PA to the United Nations, Abbas plans to apply for status as a non-member state. Such a designation would create a de facto recognition of the PA as an independent, sovereign country. It would also successfully circumvent the final status negotiations with Israel mandated by the internationally-recognized 1993 Oslo Accords signed by both parties. The PA chairman said Saturday he would submit the PA request for the status on November 29. (Arutz-7) Pray against this deceptive, manipulative, and entirely illegal scheme on the part of the Palestinian Authority to achieve statehood, via the UN, while sidestepping negotiations with Israel.

Blessings from Jerusalem,

Barry Segal with the Editorial Staff

As international speakers and messengers of the Good News through music, Barry and Batya Segal are at the forefront of what God is doing in the present day nation of Israel. With strong ties in both the nations and Jerusalem, the Segals are weaving the deepest roots of our biblical heritage together with the fresh Spirit-filled worship of today to create their rich harmony of Scripture and song.

The Segals have a vast vision for God’s purposes in the nations and to the people of Israel. In fact, their longing to help rebuild Israel both spiritually and physically inspired them to pioneer the non-profit charity organization, Vision for Israel and The Joseph Storehouse. This arm of their ministry focuses on assisting the poor and needy, widows and orphans, and reaching out to the new Jewish immigrants coming into the land of Israel. Vision ‘s most challenging project to date is “The Joseph Storehouse®”, humanitarian aid center, located in the hills of Jerusalem. The Joseph Storehouse functions as a channel of blessing to all of Israel, Jewish and Arab, through the gathering and distribution of emergency medical supplies, food, clothing, and other basic life necessities. USA office contact info: Vision for Israel, PO Box 7743, Charlotte NC 28241, 866-351-0075. The Segal’s web site is

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

. . . HIZBULLAH SAYS IT COULD STRIKE ALL OF ISRAEL IN A FUTURE WAR . . .

A man who inhumanely slaughtered a pig in his front yard before butchering it has been convicted of animal cruelty charges.

A shocked RSPCA officer found former boxer Ricky Clarkson, 48, cutting up the animal on a table in the front yard of his house in May this year after being called to the property by a neighbour.

He initially said he had killed the pig by hammering a nail through its head before later changing his story and telling a court he had slit its throat.
Butchered: After catching Ricky Clarkson butchering the pig in his front yard, RSPCA officers found parcels of pork chops in his freezer when they returned with a warrant to search his property

Butchered: After catching Ricky Clarkson butchering the pig in his front yard, RSPCA officers found parcels of pork chops in his freezer when they returned with a warrant to search his property

When RSPCA officers returned 10 days later with a search warrant, they found parcels of pig meat stored in a freezer, the remnants of a carcass in a recycling bin and several knives in a shed.

Mr Clarkson, of Bradmore Way, Coulsdon, south London, then denied having killed the pig with a nail and said he had ‘slit its throat, Halal-style’, Bromley Magistrates Court heard.

He said he was unaware of laws stipulating that pigs should be shot with a stun gun prior to being killed.

Andrew Wiles, prosecuting, said: ‘You are allowed to home-slaughter if you follow the regulations. You did not do that. You are coming up with your story today now you know what those regulations are.’

Cruelty: Officers found several knives in Mr Clarkson’s shed when they returned to search the property

Mr Clarkson, defending himself, said he had used a captive bolt gun to stun the pig before killing it but had lied to officers because he feared prosecution for possessing the gun.

He said: ‘I kill animals law-abidingly and honestly.’

He said he planned to eat the pig and had also shot kangaroos in the past.
Saved from the chop: The RSCPA rescued this pig from Mr Clarkson’s house after he was banned from keeping in animals for a year

Saved from the chop: The RSCPA rescued this pig from Mr Clarkson’s house after he was banned from keeping animals for a year

He denied causing unnecessary suffering to an animal by killing it in an inhumane manner, failing to prevent suffering to an animal that was his responsibility and killing a pig without prior stunning.

But magistrates found him guilty of all three charges and banned him from owning pigs, sheep or chickens for a year.

He was also fined £150 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Change the law for ownership of bolt guns. Every meat eating person should learn how to slaughter their own food. There is if course the option to wait for natural death of the food animal, but the costs would rise tremendously, though spiritually this would be as as good as vegetarianism (died of natural causes) if the animal had lived in generally pleasant (non-battery-like surroundings). BTW, the chicken meat eater does more harm than a dog meat eater simply by virtue of the living conditions of the animal before slaughter! Dogs probably were wandering freely as opposed to battery chickens!

This is a disgrace!! …..how can someone be convicted for making yummy chops? …..the RSPCA should be shut down!

– Rich T , London, 28/11/2012 14:02

Haha at the ‘Halal-style’ slaughter. It’s a pig for goodness sake, anything but halal! – SarahIslam , Blackburn, 28/11/2012 12:29 ===== Yes, Sarah, we all know that pigs are haran – but other animals are killed halal-style or, indeed, kosher-style. The method of killing is still the same.

An official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs warned on Monday that it might take compulsory measures to ensure the dead were buried in accordance with regulations, following ongoing incidence of illegally-built tombs and graves.

The Regulation of Funeral Management, was issued by the State Council on Nov 16, stipulating that tombs and cemeteries should not be built on arable farmland, in forests, or at scenic spots.

He Qingxun, director of the funeral management section of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said in an interview with xinhuanet.com that the civil affairs authorities could apply to the courts to take compulsory measures if tombs were illegally built.

Law of Land Management rules stipulate that those who build tombs on arable farmland can be punished.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Single tombs OR family cemeteries could be built on PRIVATELY OWNED AND FREEHOLD arable farmland (private residential properties also should be allowed, provided the graves do not occupy more than 50% of the land area, for arable farmland, no more than 25%). As for public forests, or at public scenic spots the prohibition is reasonable. This SAVES citizen funds which could circulate in the economy than being given to already wealthy cemetary running company people, and helps in preventing extreme sequestration of wealth by any licensed cemetaries especially those which only lease cemetaries which need to be paid for with very high premiums after a period of several decades.

So it should come as no surprise that Trump wants to build a luxurious, three-acre cemetery on one of his golf courses for himself, his family and members of his country club.

Still, it’s somewhat jarring to read about Trump’s ambitious plans.

The Bedminster Township Committee will consider Trump’s application to construct two lots of cemeteries at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. One lot will be .28 acres and have 82 cemetery plots, while the other will be 2.65 acres and have 942 plots. The cemeteries are intended for the Trump family as well as lifetime members of the country club. According to NJ.com, membership fees for the club can be as much as $300,000.

And if you think that is over-the-top, this is actually a scaled-down version of what Trump originally wanted. In 2007 he applied for a family mausoleum to be built alongside the course’s first hole. According to NJ.com, the plans called for a 19-foot tall stone structure with four obelisks surrounding its exteriors and a small altar with six vaults inside. Local officials nixed that plan, calling it “gaudy and out of step with the town’s rural character.”

Trump also owns golf courses in Puerto Rico and Scotland, but the course in Bedminster is perhaps the most luxurious.

“I wanted to build this course to the absolute highest standards in golf,” Trump said in May. “If the choice is ever made to [hold the U.S. Open here], I know it would do fantastically well. If that should happen, it would be a great honor.”

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Unlike the high density acloves in Columbariums, 3 Acres should be more than enough for after Trump passes on for a comfy haunting space.

ARTICLE 13

I want to be a porn star – November 26, 2012

NOV 26 — At least, that’s what seems to be on some people’s minds.

Internet porn is so prevalent that they are creating .xxx domains for porn sites. All the .com domain of porn sites will move to the new .xxx domain — which just goes to show how large this industry has become.

At the time of writing, the controversial news of the blog entitled “Sumptious Erotica” is no longer in the headlines but people still talk about it.

By now, everybody knows that the couple — one was an Asean scholar (but since his blog made the news, his scholarship has been revoked) studying at the National University of Singapore while the other is his girlfriend — posted pictures and videos of their sexual exploits on their blog.

Just because anyone can post online, this couple decided to post sexually explicit content on their blog site. Although Alvin Tan has since apologised to NUS for bringing disrepute to the university, we can see how the Internet exposes us to pornographic materials.

According to the DailyTech website, one-third of the Internet is filled with pornographic material. Meanwhile, TheWeek.com reports there are 28,000 Internet users viewing porn every second, and that there are 1,536 websites that distribute child pornography (according to Internet Watch Foundation), and one in seven youths reports being solicited for sex online and 43 per cent of Internet users view pornographic materials online.

While porn used to be associated with dark, dingy establishments that only sleazy men seem to enter, today any Tom, Dick and Harry can have access to pornographic material online.

The Forrester Research published a report on the online adult content industry and pegged it at US$75 million (RM232 million) to US$1 billion. That’s the equivalent to some Third World countries’ GDP and that research is outdated. No one has tried to estimate the value of the online porn industry as it has become difficult to track buying habits of porn fans.

But what does this mean to young adults?

Youths increasingly think sex is nothing and have no qualms displaying their bedroom antics in public. After all, Alvin boasted he was getting offers to star in porn movies.

Pray tell, what hot-blooded young man wouldn’t want his day job to require him having sex all day — and getting paid for it? Okay, some men actually dream of changing the world but that’s another story.

And what about young women?

Porn actress Sasha Grey said on “The Tyra Banks Show” that her porn films are “sex positive” and encouraged women to explore their sexuality. The question running through my head is this: if an Asean scholar can be proud of being offered a part in porn movies, what hope do mere mortals have?

This has nothing to do with ASEAN scholars who tend to be apparatchik linked bureaucrats’ children and cronies of government colluding suppliers and contractors who do not need to compete with the non-scholars even in this area. Any uneducated person with the looks and sexuality will be no mere mortal. At least the beautiful people of the world have an additional option barring ‘ugliness/freaky’ porn which also enables a better life from sheer volume.

ARTICLE 14

Female porn stars have higher self-esteem and better quality of life than other women, according to new study – by Lucy Waterlow – PUBLISHED: 16:34 GMT, 26 November 2012 | UPDATED: 16:38 GMT, 26 November 2012

Positive outlook: Adult film stars like Jenna Jameson, pictured, were found to have a better quality of life in a recent study

A study published this week has debunked the stereotypical portrayal of porn actresses as ‘damaged goods’ who enter the adult entertainment industry because they suffer from low esteem or have been victims of childhood sexual abuse.

The report in the Journal of Sex Research found that porn stars are not more likely to have psychological problems than other women.

In fact, they discovered those in the sex entertainment industry had a more positive outlook on life with higher self-confidence and more flattering views on their body image.

Researchers at Pennsylvania’s Shippensburg University, Texas Woman’s University and the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation said they found no evidence to support the ‘damaged goods hypothesis’ that all porn actresses have come from backgrounds of sexual abuse.

What the Dickens? Erotic fiction is 4,000% more popular than high quality literature as passion for ‘mummy porn’ sees off the classics
Rowan Pelling’s sex advice column: My boyfriend can’t get over my fling…even though we were on a break

‘Some descriptions of actresses in pornography have included attributes such as drug addiction, homelessness, poverty, desperation and being victims of sexual abuse.

‘Some have made extreme assertions, such as claiming that all women in pornography were sexually abused as children,’ the report states.

But ‘there were no differences in incidence of childhood sexual abuse’ between the porn actresses questioned and the cross section of ‘average’ women, according to their findings.
High self-esteem: Porn actresses had more self-confidence and were happy with their body image compared to the other women questioned (posed by model)

The report, entitled Pornography Actresses: An Assessment of the Damaged Goods Hypothesis, adds these stereotypes have been embraced by anti-porn campaigners even though they found no evidence to support the view that porn actresses are less psychologically stable then other women.

‘Stereotypes of those involved in adult entertainment have been used to support or condemn the industry and to justify political views on pornography, although the actual characteristics of actresses are unknown because no study on this group of women has been conducted,’ the report explains.

For the study, the researchers compared 177 adult entertainment actresses aged from 18 to 50 with women of the same age, ethnicity and marital status who are not in the porn industry.

The average time the women questioned had spent working in the sex entertainment industry was three-and-a-half years with all of them being paid to work on at least one X-rated movie.

More than one-third were either married or in a serious relationship, while 44 per cent were single.

The study compared their sexual behaviour and attitutes, self-esteem, quality of life and drug use with the ‘average’ women.

The adult entertainers were found to have higher self-esteem with more positive views on their body image.
Protesters: The researchers said they didn’t find evidence to support anti-porn campaigners views that women in the industry are more likely to have a background of childhood sexual abuse

Protesters: The researchers said they didn’t find evidence to support anti-porn campaigners views that women in the industry are more likely to have a background of childhood sexual abuse

They also had greater levels of spirituality and were rated as having a better quality of life because they slept better and had more energy.

Almost 70 per cent said they had a fulfilling sex life compared to 33 per cent of the other women.

In terms of their sexual history, the report found that the porn actresses had more sexual partners, were more likely to be bisexual and had become sexually active at a younger age – the average being 15 years compared to 17 for the non-porn industry workers.

While the report challenged the stereotype of porn actresses as drug addicts, drug use was found to be more prevalent among the entertainers. They were more likely to have tried ten different types of drugs compared to the control group.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Do differentiate between non-GMO ORGANIC drugs which most of humanity used before the industrial era and SYNTHETIC DRUGS which do not break down naturally.

A group of naturists admire the view from a hilltop on the outskirts of Beijing. Photos provided to China Daily

China’s naturists often fantasize about baring it all in the sun and the wind, but secluded and safe places are hard to find and public acceptance is equally lacking. Raymond Zhou takes a closer look at the bare facts.

Autumn offers the best weather for Beijing. In 2009, a group of six people took advantage of the golden autumn days and drove 120 kilometers to a far suburb of the capital city in search of a place where they cannot be seen.

They were naturists, who go with the intention of strolling about in their birthday suits in the embrace of Mother Nature.

One of them had discovered a mountain in Huairou, to the northeast of central Beijing. There were no tourists, and they picked a trail with no traces of other humans. After climbing up for half an hour, they came to a giant flat rock. It seemed ideal for sunbathing au naturel.

Before they could totally relax, however, they were visited by a large swarm of wasps. The insects seemed especially attracted to the two female members of the group. While fending off the winged invaders, the naturists found to their dismay that they themselves had trespassed. There were two hornets’ nests beneath the rock.

As they left the place and trekked deeper into the mountain, they stumbled onto more wildlife — a swarm of butterflies and a lone snake. Finally, they settled on a spot under a chestnut tree. Using twigs as a temporary fence so that insects would climb up rather than sneak in, the group put towels on the trodden grass and started taking off their clothes.

The best thing about this spot was, they could see people coming up, but not vice versa. The worst thing: It was too cramped for comfort.

This episode is typical of the dilemma faced by China’s growing numbers of naturists.

Bare necessities

In a country with more than 1.3 billion people, it is not easy to find a public space that is naturally secluded. Wherever you go, you are likely to run into someone who is not ready to accept social nudity, or worse, who is prone to interpret such acts as hooliganism, a vague term in China that may encompass anything from sexual harassment to graffiti.

According to Fang Gang, an expert on sex and gender issues, it is impossible to estimate the number of naturists in China, but he speculates the potential is massive.

For Chinese naturists, finding a public space that is naturally secluded is always a challenge. Photo provided to China Daily

“Anyone who went skinny-dipping while on an overseas excursion is basically a naturist,” he says. Likewise, nobody knows how many naturist groups China has because none has been officially registered.

In online forums, there are many groups with a proclaimed interest in naturism. But Fang explains that most of them only talk about it. Nothing will come out of it, he says.

A few would organize meetings, not the clothing optional type, but fully dressed, for more talks about the possibility of arranging something. Out of those, a very small fraction may truly do something like the autumn getaway described above.

Fang Gang, whose recent book on naturism is the first in the country to tackle the phenomenon, argues that existing Chinese laws do not make this kind of public nudity illegal.

The most frequently cited law says: Anyone who molests others or intentionally exposes oneself in a public place and causes bad consequences will be subject to detention of more than five days but less than 10 days.

Fang interprets it as a law which targets exhibitionists who expose their private parts to harass another person.

“Naturists care only about their own state of dressing and do not intend to target any outsiders. They do not have an object for violation,” he says.

As a matter of fact, China’s naturists go out of their way to avoid what they call the “textile public”. That is why it is so troublesome for them to find a natural enclave where they can rest or play sports stark naked.

Usually when a naturist bumps into a non-naturist in the wilderness, he will cover himself with his backpack and let the other person pass. The clothed person, who might be startled, ideally understands what’s been encountered and moves on.

It only becomes a problem when the police or media get alerted, says Fang. The cops may come and drive away the naturists if it is a regular hangout; or the media may report on it, eliciting derision and outcries from the public.

“Anyone who went skinny-dipping while on an overseas excursion is basically a naturist,” he says. Likewise, nobody knows how many naturist groups China has because none has been officially registered.

In online forums, there are many groups with a proclaimed interest in naturism. But Fang explains that most of them only talk about it. Nothing will come out of it, he says.

A few would organize meetings, not the clothing optional type, but fully dressed, for more talks about the possibility of arranging something. Out of those, a very small fraction may truly do something like the autumn getaway described above.

Fang Gang, whose recent book on naturism is the first in the country to tackle the phenomenon, argues that existing Chinese laws do not make this kind of public nudity illegal.

The most frequently cited law says: Anyone who molests others or intentionally exposes oneself in a public place and causes bad consequences will be subject to detention of more than five days but less than 10 days.

Fang interprets it as a law which targets exhibitionists who expose their private parts to harass another person.

“Naturists care only about their own state of dressing and do not intend to target any outsiders. They do not have an object for violation,” he says.

As a matter of fact, China’s naturists go out of their way to avoid what they call the “textile public”. That is why it is so troublesome for them to find a natural enclave where they can rest or play sports stark naked.

Usually when a naturist bumps into a non-naturist in the wilderness, he will cover himself with his backpack and let the other person pass. The clothed person, who might be startled, ideally understands what’s been encountered and moves on.

It only becomes a problem when the police or media get alerted, says Fang. The cops may come and drive away the naturists if it is a regular hangout; or the media may report on it, eliciting derision and outcries from the public.

“But after the police and the media are gone, the naturists will come back. Local authorities turn a blind eye,” he says. “The nude beach in Sanya was shut down in 2008 when it made headlines, but there’s a lot of clothing-free activities there now.”

He also visited the famous nudist park on Harbin’s Sun Island. It turned out to be a very isolated patch inside the mammoth park that takes great effort to locate.

Fang says, to his knowledge, no one in China has ever been punished for naturist activities.

“The most the police would do is to banish a naturist from a public premise.”

There have been several reported incidents involving artists, who use streaking or other forms of nudism for artistic creation, but these were officially banned. The online public tends to label them “strange”, “crazy” or “perverse”.

The biggest misconception about naturism, insists Fang Gang, who has written some 50 books on sexology, is sex.

While the public predominantly sees naturism as a precursor to sex, naturists contend that pure naturism is anything but sex.

Fang Gang argues that nude is a natural state. Except for the most physically attractive among us, he says, clothing enhances sexual appeal while total nudity would do the opposite.

Those who want to use social nudism for sexcapades are in for a rude awakening.

A Beijing naturist with the nickname Piggy has participated in a few clothing-optional outings. He says the kind of group atmosphere is not inductive to sexual fantasy.

“Everyone knows where the line is, and nobody wants to cross it. People may tell a few dirty jokes, but that’s not different from a regular group trip.”

However, in online bulletin boards, one of the most frequent questions that pop up is about sexual arousal: “What if I have an erection in front of others, especially females?”

Naturists interviewed for Fang’s book claim this is extremely rare. Most have never encountered it. For those few who have witnessed it, they say it’s usually handled by temporarily covering oneself with a towel.

“It quickly goes away,” they add.

Naturist forums strictly ban the posting of photos of a sexual nature. In a nudist colony, one is not supposed to leer at another person or say anything provocative.

No sexual activities are allowed in public, not even between couples. Some groups even prohibit dancing or alcohol drinking for fear that they may lead to fondling.

Many approach naturist groups with sexual curiosity. For example, many men would inquire about female members in a group. They would back away once they find out no female has signed up for a group gathering.

On the other hand, the appearance of a pretty young woman would invariably attract a lot of attention.

A 24-year-old Beijing woman named Xiu-xiu went to a group spa, her first nudist event, and disrobed while eating. Some men noticed this and joked that she was “burning with sexual desire”.

“Nothing is pure,” she says afterwards. “It is human nature. But why can men walk around bare-chested and women cannot?”

Among those who lean toward nudism but balk at taking it all off are people uncomfortable with their own bodies. “I’d do it if I’m physically fit,” some would say.

In a larger picture, Chinese society, unlike the ancient Greeks, does not celebrate the human body. While some can accept the aesthetic beauty of the supermodel type in artistically tasteful arrangements, most tend to treat a regular nude as an ugly sight, something to be covered up.

There is essentially no tradition in China of enjoying the nude for what it is — other than a sexual object.

There are occasions where public nudity is accepted, such as in public bathhouse where people of the same gender shower or bathe together without any awkwardness. But with widespread indoor plumbing and private bathrooms, this, too, is dying out.

“Most people believe nudism has to be associated with sex,” says Fang Gang. “Deep down, we still adopt an attitude of mystery and sexual objectification toward nudism. And beyond that, we tend to paint sex in a negative light.”

Li Yinhe, another renowned sexologist, says that Chinese culture has always been conservative toward nudity with the possible exception of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) with its sexually suggestive fashion and dance moves.

“Whether you regard the human body as beautiful or ugly, it should not be used as a moral guide for nudism.

The bottom line is whether such an activity infringes on others. If nudism does not hurt others, it is not immoral.

Even if 99 percent of the population may not like it, they should still respect the choice of the 1 percent,” Li says.

Meanwhile, many Chinese naturists admit they are made to “feel like thieves”, either in private homes or stripping just long enough in nature to take a photo or two.

All they want, says Fang Gang, is a natural environment that is relatively private, maybe an uninhabited island.

Contact the writer at raymondzhou@chindadaily.com.cn.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Ok, USA seriously needs to keep up with the Chinese Human Rights Joneses now. The ‘Nudist Challenge’ simply is to zone spaces (probably natural settings, but even urban settings could work if the preference is there) in appropriate size to the registered communities. The ‘Morally Affluent’ in USA have been terming nudists as ‘Human Form of Vermin’ long enough. Time for ‘Barry Stark’ to take over appropriate districts in all state capitals if ‘Iron Man Suits’ are to have any chance of besting China based on per capita number of nudists, so pay attention boffins, heres your fine example of ‘Chaos Physics’ . . .

Yes, we all know that we’re more likely to be struck by lightning or attacked by a shark than to win one of the lottery’s biggest jackpots.

But the bad odds didn’t stop readers this week from dreaming about what they would do if they had been the biggest winners of the $580 million Powerball drawing on Wednesday night.

A post this week on how you could amend your holiday shopping list if you raked in the big jackpot got readers talking about how they could improve their lives – and the lives of others – with hundreds of millions of dollars.

Follow @todaymoney

Of the nearly 20,000 people who took our survey, more than half said their No.1 goal would be to buy a really nice house.

“A new home for my parents to move in with me in their old age then remodel my old home and donate it to homeless veterans,” one reader wrote.

Many readers said their first impulse would be to help others, in addition to themselves.

“I’d make sure every kid in my county had a good meal, decent clothes, supplies, and something fun–just for starters,” one reader wrote.

Others said they’d like to give back to organizations that have helped them in the past.

“My gift would be to donate a majority to Children’s Hospital -Wisconsin. They saved my kid’s life and I will never be able to repay them,” one grateful reader wrote.

Many readers had modest dreams, involving the things and people they loved.

“Nothing too fancy. I would like my ’66 Chevy truck fully restored, a decent house with a shop, and then a historic tour through Europe,” one reader wrote.

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Try this one. Set up a string of banks in USA’s largest cities based on the next article’s response (ARTICLE 17). Prestigious and helpful to set up, and also a much needed and long overdue slap in the face of the greed minded extremist-Capitalists. USA is not about Capitalism and enriching CEOs. USA is about freedom.

ARTICLE 17

Sen. Sanders: Wall Street CEOs are the ‘Faces of Class Warfare’ – Common Dreams staff – Published on Friday, November 30, 2012 by Common Dreams

Incredulous that Wall Street investment bankers and billionaire CEOs have descended on Washington in the midst of ongoing budget talks to tell Americans that they should “lower their expectations” when it comes to the security of their retirement and future health care, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders took to the Senate floor Thursday to call out the audacity of corporate-minded millionaires and billionaires, calling them the new “face of class warfare” in the United States.

“I find it literally beyond comprehension, that we have folks from Wall Street who received huge bailouts from the people of our country—from working families in this country—because of the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior, which Wall Street did to drive us into this recession, and now these very same people are coming here to Congress to lecture us and the American people about how we have to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid while they enjoy huge salaries and retirement benefits.”

Sanders specifically called out CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, who has recently been making both the media rounds and consulting with lawmakers regarding the ongoing tax and budget debate in Washington during the current lame duck session. Blankfein, one of the highest paid executives on Wall Street and worth hundred of millions personally, made the comments about ‘lowered expectations’ in a recent evening news interview with CBS and said that average Americans should understand that the US simply can’t “afford” to maintain programs like Social Security and Medicare.

The facts of such sentiments, as many economists repeatedly point out, are false, but Sanders said that Blankfein delivered the familiar rightwing trope “with all the sympathy for someone struggling to get by on $14,000-a-year retirement that you’d expect from a Wall Street banker paid $16 million last year.”(Background image via New York Magazine)

Blankfein is also a member of the CEO cabal that has come together under the banner ‘Fix The Debt’ to protect the historically low tax rates of the nation’s wealthy elite while simultaneously calling for the slashing of social programs. As the Huffington Post reports:

CEOs including Blankfein have been warning that the fiscal cliff could hurt business investment, hiring and the economy as a whole, and they have been calling for cuts to the social safety net to avert it. Dozens of major CEOs, including Blankfein, are members of the CEO council of the campaign Fix the Debt, which calls for cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and vague Social Security reform to address the deficit. More than 80 CEOs, including Blankfein, also signed a recent letter calling for deficit reduction.

But as a recent report from the Institute for Policy Studies aimed to show, the ‘Fix the Debt’ campaign, which has raised $60 million to lobby for a debt deal that “would reduce corporate taxes and shift costs onto the poor and elderly,” is really just a Trojan horse designed to use an invented debt crisis to achieve long-held agenda goals.

“Think about the arrogance of these guys on Wall Street who were bailed out by the middle class of this country when their greed and recklessness nearly destroyed the financial system and now they come to Capitol Hill to lecture Congress and the American people about the need to cut programs for working families.” — Sen. Bernie Sanders

The CEOs involved in the group, including Blankfein, are trying to “pass themselves off as noble leaders who are willing to compromise in order the save America from financial ruin,” explain co-authors of the report Scott Klinger and Sarah Anderson. But the reality is that these CEOs are “leveraging the ‘Fiscal Cliff'” in order to push age old attempts to avoid paying taxes at the expense of those in need, they say.

And, as Ezra Klein points out in a recent Bloomberg op-ed, the US has an ‘austerity crisis’ not a ‘debt crisis’. Klein argues that employing the much-used term “fiscal cliff” mistates the nature of the financial and policy realities. Worse, he says, the term “provides no hint of how to solve it.”

He says, “I prefer the term ‘austerity crisis,’ which at least describes the real issue — too much austerity, imposed too quickly.”

Called by its true name or not, the CEOs behind ‘Fix the Debt’—with Lloyd Blankfein and Honeywell’s David Cote leading the charge— are using the generated panic around the talks as a way to impose their own interests and have proven unafraid to speak boldly and use their fast resources to make their case.

However, what Klinger and Anderson call ‘leverage’, Sanders simply called arrogance Thursday.

“Think about the arrogance of these guys on Wall Street who were bailed out by the middle class of this country when their greed and recklessness nearly destroyed the financial system and now they come to Capitol Hill to lecture Congress and the American people about the need to cut programs for working families,” he said

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Banks take your money and return you 1-3% in FLAT interest in most areas of the world. But what most people fail to connect is that the bank takes the money you deposit and lends THE SAME MONEY to a loan taker at up to 20% COMPOUND interest. This means banks get a 10 times the premium on what you get in interest ON YOUR MONEY. So 99%ters please do yourself a favour and either :

– NOT deposit your cash in the bank
– store in actual gold which does not drop in value – any respectable country should have that facility for state protected gold sales
– do not buy from banks PASS BOOK Gold ‘ON REPUTATION’, the government has colluded even while selling actual gold in many cases (in most cases and the bank will act as if they can deliver the actual gold which they do not have)
– OR set up a people’s cooperative bank in your local community

A people’s cooperative bank in your local community that REWARDS the depositors with at very least 50% of what the bank makes YEARLY in redistributed interest from loan profits (no loans given out means no profits btw) AND NOT give massive bonuses to CEOs or Exec staff more than 1% of the bank’s profits instead. (That same money could have been given as high INTEREST RATES for all depositors but instead the idiot 1% CEO gets the payout)

While a cooperative’s poorer paying bank (this is a bank for degree holders with a conscience) might not attract ‘brand name’ CEOs, financially the DEPOSITORS get the better deal and the bank will not be BILLIONS in debt while propped up by the state. Any private bank may set up any rules or rates, and the first rule should be that the any GOOD/HONEST BANK should apply/ackhnowledgge before setting rates is that THE DEPOSITOR’S CAPITAL IS THE BASIS OF THE BANK’S ABILITY TO LEND.

The base required capital for a bank to be set up is generally a few million, nothing a bunch of 401K citizens could set up in several man band (rebels of the banking system no less much like the difference between punk bands out of a back of a van as opposed to 950 sterling seat ticket concerts), though the cooperative must be fully prepared for saboteurs taking loans and all other dirty tricks INCLUDING government collusion in preventing setting up of the bank to protect collusive interests between term limitless bureaucrats and term limitless politicians. Finally public listing means a bank is a gambling machine with overinflated value that can disappear as fast as stockholders run and is liable to sabotage. A stock listed bank is far more dangerous than a non-stock listed bank due to false flag acquisitions and ‘majority stockholders’ (who doubtless will use the red ocean mindset on the bank’s assets), though the branch issue could be a problem unless similarly structures cooperatives begin cooperating worldwide.

Vermont – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Vermont is the 6th least extensive and the 2nd least populous of the 50 United States of America … (low density means a good life that allowed the people living there to retain high ideals, as for lest extensive that might foster community awareness . . . the environment colours the citizens, and as opposed to NTDBF (no prizes for the acronym) Singapore, – in Penang, guess what colours this writer learnt . . . but greener pastures await if Lynas doesn’t destroy one of the last rainforest reserves in the world first from the city out . . .)

JOHOR BAHARU, Nov 29 – KPJ Healthcare Bhd, a member of Johor Corporation (JCorp) Group, continues its aggressive expansion in the regional healthcare market by acquiring a substantial stake in a Thailand hospital.

Its Chairman Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim said KPJ forked out RM63 million to buy 23 per cent of multi specialty private healthcare provider, Vejthani Hospital, in Bangkok.

The 500-bed hospital is famous for its specialty in orthopaedic treatment.

“The stake acquisition in a Thailand Hospital will expand KPJ’s reach within Asean’s healthcare market. The potential profit contribution from Vejthani Hospital is expected to enhance KPJ Group’s earnings in the future,” said Kamaruzzaman, who is also JCorp President and Chief Executive, to reporters after attending KPJ’s extraordinary general meeting.

He said the stake acquisition would be fulfilled via internal-generated funds but the transaction was expected to increase the company’s gearing by about six per cent by the second quarter of next year.

KPJ bought the stake from a private equity fund.

According to Vejthani Hospital’s website, it handled about 300,000 patients annually, with its share of international patients coming from 40 different countries worldwide.

He said efforts to grow KPJ’s medical tourism segment was continuing, with the company targeting to raise the revenue contribution from the segment to as high as 25 per cent by 2020.

Besides Malaysia where it owned 22 private specialist hospitals, KPJ also has a presence in Indonesia with two hospitals in Jakarta and a retirement and aged care resort called Jeta Gardens in Brisbane, Australia.

Meanwhile, Managing Director Datin Paduka Siti Sa’diah Sheikh Bakir, who was also present at the media conference, said apart from local parties, KPJ also received enquiries from foreign parties wanting the company to have a presence in their countries.

The second resolution was on the proposed disposal of two pieces of land in Johor Baharu by KPJ’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Puteri Specialist Hospital (Johor) Sdn Bhd, to Al-’Aqar Healthcare REIT for a total cash consideration of RM3.6 million.

The last resolution in today’s EGM was on the proposed acquisition of a parcel of vacant commercial land in Mukim Tebrau, Johor Baharu, by Renalcare Perubatan (M) Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned unit of KPJ from Johor Land Bhd for RM45 million.

The purchase of the land in Bandar Dato Onn was to enable KPJ to build a 150-bed private hospital, costing RM100 million, by early next year and be completed by 2015.

KPJ’s Bandar Dato Onn Hospital was one of the six hospitals the company planned to build throughout the country, which was under the ambit of the government’s Entry Point Projects (EPP). – Bernama

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Guess those white (or any well informed) VIPs won’t want to go to Thailand anymore. Knowing what some Muslets are like, every VIP who steps into that Thai hospital (or any hospital with strong funding from certain regions) will have their brains scanned and their souls converted to Islam (not very effective but mostly mind control form – that is why there are suicide bombers only in Islam IMHO . . . 3rd world types brainwashed into violent natures and terrorism . . . ). We can imagine the form this will take, the committee will give face by allowing in Muslim medical personnel and well, we all know where that goes from here don’t we? Subverted citizens haplessly unaware of Muslet involvement in medical industry in Thailand. Guesss India or even China will take over or medical tourism here on. Poor Thailand, not very careful and this could be LGBT hate inspired in a very chilling manner, with inhumane intent! One thing we have learn from living in a Muslim country (look into the soul of this one specifically to know the dangers of a Muslet riddled medical institution), much less medical tourism or something scarier in the article below . . .

He was a previously well 49 year-old man who developed a mild undiagnosed respiratory illness while visiting Saudi Arabia during August 2012, which fully resolved. He subsequently presented to a physician in Qatar on 3 September, with cough, myalgia and arthralgia, and was prescribed oral antibiotics. Five days later, he was admitted to a Qatari hospital with fever (38.4 °C) and hypoxia, with oxygen saturation of 91% on room air. A chest X-ray showed bilateral lower zone consolidation. He was treated with ceftriaxone, azithromycin and oseltamivir. After 48 hours, he required intubation and ventilation and was transferred by air ambulance to London. During transfer, he was clinically unstable, requiring manual ventilation.

Mounts says when the first two infections with this virus were spotted, in June and then September, both men had been in Mecca, Saudia Arabia, before they got sick. As such the chance existed that the source of infection — which is currently unknown — was only found there.

But the newest infections show that isn’t possible. Some of the Saudi cases had not been to Mecca before they got sick. They live in and fell ill in Riyadh, the capital. And the most recent case from Qatar lives in Doha and had not recently travelled outside the country.

The above comments raise questions about a Mecca source for the novel betacornavirus reported in the past few months. The first set of comments (in red) is from a Eurosuveillance report on the first confirmed case (49M) from Qatar. Although the patient developed a severe illness more than 10 days after returning from a visit to Saudi Arabia, a mild respiratory illness developed while in Saudi Arabia, raising concerns that the coronavirus isolated after transfer to London caused the mild disease in Saudi Arabia and then caused the more severe symptoms when the patient relapsed.

The second set of comments (in blue) cite a WHO technical representative, who notes that both of the initial confirmed cases had traveled to Mecca prior to symptoms, raising concerns that these initial cases were linked to infections in Mecca that were linked to preparations for the Hajj which includes visits to Mecca and Medina by pilgrims who journey to Saudi Arabia from many countries outside of the Middle East including Indonesia, Pakistan, and India. The brother of the surviving case 49F indicated his brother went to Mecca for Umrah week.

This linkage of the Qatar case to the Hajj may have precipitated the curious comments in an October 22 ProMed report by Dr Ziad Memish who is the Deputy Minister of Public Health for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as well as Director for WHO Collaborating Center for Mass Gatherings. Memish was concerned that ProMED was reporting notifiable diseases outside of normal channels and noted that there was more of a story to tell. Although KSA reported the two cases above, the reports on subsequent cases lacked detail. The third case was hospitalized in Riyadh and was recovering, but no age, gender, or dates were released. The same was true for the fourth case, which was also in Riyadh and media reports indicated the KSA MoH noted the cases had no serious consequences, yet two relatives of the fourth case had died after renal failure. Renal failure was also reported for the first two confirmed cases as well as about 5% of SARS cases in 2003. Most of the SARS CoV cases with renal failure died.

Similarly, WHO described the recent cases from Saudi Arabia as well as the second case from Qatar, while withholding age, gender, and dates. The WHO report did indicate that two of the confirmed cases were epidemiologically linked to each other as well as two additional symptomatic family members. The untested family member (70M) died after developing renal failure as did his son, who tested positive for the novel betacornavirus. The fourth family member was symptomatic, but tested negative. Some media reports suggest he may be retested. Media reports also indicted the son was hospitalized after his father died, suggest a gap in disease onset dates signaling human to human transmission. Media reports also indicate the cluster was in October, but not reported until November 23. The height of Hajj activities were in October, which is also when the second Qatar case was infected, although he did not travel outside of Doha prior to his illness.

Media reports indicated all six confirmed cases and the two probable cases were male, which may have affected testing or may have been related to religious ceremonies which limit interactions between genders. The linkage of the first two confirmed cases to Mecca raises concerns that the novel coronavirus may have spread among Hajj attendees, who subsequently spread the virus to other locations, including Riyadh and Doha.

More information on the Riyadh cluster, include ages and disease onset dates as well as sequences from the associated coronavirus, would be useful.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Bioterrorism perhaps (and this could be from either side . . . )? Those hapless subverted pilgrims especially from any Western (or even ASEAN) country could be (and have been) now carrying a dusting of anything terribly dangerous, some of which will not be ‘activated’ until the warm season etc., nanomites etc.. Every nation with pilgrims had better give all Hajj returnees a good hazmat treatment and quarantine when they return . . .

ARTICLE 20

Chinese tycoon must reapply for approval on Iceland resort – December 02, 2012

REYKJAVIK, Dec 2 – A Chinese tycoon who wants to build a major tourist resort in a remote corner of northeast Iceland must reapply for permission to go ahead with the project, Icelandic media reported yesterday.

Cabinet ministers, led by Industry Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson, said they were unable to make a final decision on Huang Nubo’s application as much information remained unavailable, state radio RUV reported.

His plans have been highly controversial, with some commentators saying they raise questions about regional security because of Iceland’s strategic location in the Arctic where several nations are competing for resources.

Huang has already agreed with municipalities in the area to lease 70 per cent of a 300-square-km farm, where he plans to build a golf course, hotel and outdoor recreation area.

State radio said Huang’s Iceland-registered firm Zhongkun Grimsstadir had in mid-November asked for more time to supply further information, and that it could take a few more months.

In a letter to architect Halldor Johannsson, Huang’s Icelandic representative, the government said Huang should submit a new application which would be reviewed by a government committee.

Huang, who is chairman of Beijing-based Zhongkun Investment Group and was 161st on the Forbes list of the richest Chinese in 2010, plans to reapply as soon as he has gathered the information needed, RUV reported.

Iceland is recovering from its worst-ever financial crisis after the complete collapse of its top banks in 2008, and it is keen to lure foreign investment.

RUV says there would be investment of about 20 billion Iceland krona (RM482 million) in the project and that 400-600 jobs could be created.

The government’s decision was seen by observers as a sign the cabinet wanted to postpone the matter until after planned parliamentary elections in May next year. – Reuters

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

How about giving the nail house another look? Perhaps someone else would like to build on the space where the title is. One would never know who their friends were and China should leave lasting symbols like nail houses in place. China is a disappointment here, or the will of the house owner for love of human rights is not strong enough. Let there be nail houses throughout China!

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 (Bernama) — United Nations (UN) in Malaysia hopes the government and the Election Commission (EC) to use its ground breaking report to enhance Malaysia’s electoral reform efforts before the 13th General Election.

UN Resident Coordinator for Malaysia, Kamal Malhotra said the report, which was issued last month, presents a strategy to increase the likelihood that incumbent politicians and governments would deepen democracy and improve the integrity of national elections.

Kamal said UN had long established a reputation for being globally the most experienced neutral and credible organisation on such issues worldwide.

“Indeed, since 1991, we have provided electoral assistance to more than 100 UN member states and four territories, including Mexico, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya,” he said in his speech at the UN Malaysia Award 2012 here, Wednesday.

Applauding the EC for their recent decision to implement 26 out of the 32 recommendations made by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reform, he said the UN was prepared to share its vast experience and technical expertise in the area. Kamal also said that the UN commends and supports Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in countinuing on a path of law reform through the Political Transformation Programme which was consonant with international human rights norms and standards.

“We know that the government and people of Malaysia are committed to nation building and democratic consolidation,” he said.

Earlier, the Malaysian Bar Council was conferred with the UN Malaysia Award 2012 for its role in promoting democracy and human rights.

The UN Person of the Year Award was also posthumously awarded to the late Prof Khoo Kay Jin in recognition of his lifetime of outstanding achievement.

Selected Commentator Comments :

How could the Bar Council accept the award with a straight face when it could not disbar V.K. Lingam for his role in perverting the course of justice?

Mr Bean October 25, 2012 at 7:13 am

Hussin must be his dreaming self again. It is time he has both feet on the ground. The failure to purge the honorable profession of members seen to be flouting its own rules is symptomatic of a wider problem that continues to make a mockery of its struggle to give meaning to the rule of law.

Here is a profession which grew from some 600 members in the ’60s to multiples of 3,000 members today in the short space of a few decades and whose members for the most part depend on the government directly or indirectly for their livelihood, to put food on the table for their famiies, it is wishful thinking to think that they could be more than anything else but a group of self serving individuals who would prostitute their profession and betray the principles of their profession, sell their grandmothers and throw others under the bus when push comes to shove.

Having said that there have been a committed and dedicated handful fiercely loyal to their profession who are working to bring back honor to their profession that have alluded it over the years. But even they are powerless to bring change where change is most needed.

Mr Bean October 25, 2012 at 6:40 pm

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Toad! This award is entirely inappropriate. How could the UN award the Bar Council when Kugan (ok a car thief is a criminal but does not deserve to die so terribly and under such poor procedure) Teo Beng Hock (political sacrifice by DAP – anyone who took on the ACA at that time was doomed, DAP just didn’y like TBH’s politics and sent TBH to TBH’s doom) and Altantuya (the world knows this one, diplomatic fallout no end for BN . . . ) died without legal redress? When socio-economic apartheid continues uncontrolled? When forced military conscriptions are unaddressed? Where the country is being bled by term limitless nepotists in either BN or PR coalition, and Orang Asli land is stolen ALL THE TIME? Does the UN know that Malaysia lacks :

;and that the Bar Council (which I visited in person but were all unwilling to address APARTHEID of BUMIPUTRA) is asleep on the job regards even Article 1 of the Human Rights Charter which is equality that Malaysians do not have, Article 18 of the Human Rights Charter which is freedom of choice in religion which Malaysia ALSO does not have? Bar Council are panders and colluders to Malaysian insouciance and opacity, hiding behind a legal junta of undemocratically installed judge that collude with MPs to hide all sorts of Human Rights abuses?

For years the United Nations has aggressively worked against the best interests of our country and many of our allies. The UN’s actions and intentions toward the United States have been nothing short of reprehensible.” Republican congressman Connie Mack Saturday Oct 27 2012 . . .

Well, faux-Muslets at the Bar Council? Did Bar Council bribe the UN for this award? The people don’t need a legal education to understand all the above facts. I am shocked at the UN! What is wrong with the UN?

ARTICLE 2

Propaganda online was never this blatant . . .

How many times have the Muslim Traders Association had to protest DAP’s policy en masse on the street, and even small traders been targetted, land laws corrupted to benefit DAP, illegal distribution of tax funds that the proud among Penangites refuse to accept?

DAP has institutionalized corruption, while BN’s corruption is undertable.

Because one writes a corrupt law (i) much like creating a Minister Mentor and Senior Minister’s posts to STEAL tax monies with the assent of MPs, or (ii) 750K funerals for CMs and Assemblywomen wives 120K funerals AT THE Rakyat’s expense)

;does not represent the will of 99% of the REAL voters – Representative Democracy is NOT 1 man 1 vote TRUE democracy . . .) does not make DAP any more moral or shows more integrity in DAP.

At least in some cases MCA is ashamed and tries to hide corruption DAP is totally shameless like PAP’s creating the 4 million + yearly Minister mentor and Senior Minister posts (this was kept but had Minister mentor created because the short form SM also means Sado-Masochist – and the taxpayers by MP collusion had to tolerate ANOTHER 4 million in a new post for Beloved Leader . . .),

;and writes shameless laws to justify corruption, saying ‘thats the law’, but none of the Rakyat would ever allow those laws, only the colluding MPs will . . .

The busiest part of the Nibong Tebal constituency is Jawi town. The next general election is expected to be the closest fight to form the new government. And several seats across the nation are likely to see heated battles with the victor winning by the slimmest of majorities. The Malaysian Insider takes a look at some of these hot seats in what will be an intense election for control of Malaysia.

NIBONG TEBAL, Oct 26 — Located on the southern part of Seberang Perai, this small township of about 50,000 people is almost like the last frontier of mainland Penang.

That’s because there is a spot in this quiet little town where you just need to take one step forward and you would have left Penang and stepped right into Perak.

Perhaps it is due to its distance from the busy city of George Town but not many Penang folk would venture here except for foodies intent on trying out the town’s famed Teochew crab porridge, boiled baby octopus and curried freshwater prawns.

Far from the sea, it may seem strange that this mainland township’s fame is tied to “seafood” but considering the Krian River runs through it, the mud crabs and freshwater prawns are obviously local catches.

Jawi is the busiest part of the whole constituency where there is a concentration of shoplots, food courts, wet markets, restaurants, supermarkets and government offices.

Nibong Tebal is spread out over three state constituencies — Jawi, Sungai Acheh and Sungai Bakap — with different racial groups in different villages.

The whole of Nibong Tebal is made up of about 55 per cent non-Malays and about 45 per cent Malays, with a majority of the Malays located in the Sungai Acheh area where agriculture is the main industry.

Jawi town is the main hub with its rows of shophouses.
That’s why choosing a candidate to contest the parliamentary seat can be tricky as the contesting parties will need to satisfy the needs of both the Malays and non-Malays.

Previously, the Nibong Tebal parliamentary seat and its three state seats, Sungai Acheh, Sungai Bakap and Jawi, were all Barisan Nasional (BN) seats.

In the 2004 general election, Umno (BN) newcomer Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman won the parliamentary seat with a 6,005-vote majority while the three state seats also saw BN winning with huge majorities but in 2008, BN only managed to retain the Sungai Acheh state seat with a slim majority of 250 votes and lost the rest.

This coming election, Zainal Abidin is tipped to be the one to try to win the seat back for BN even though the current MP, Tan Tee Beng, who won the seat on the PKR ticket, is now an independent MP.

Zainal Abidin is tipped to be the BN candidate for the Nibong Tebal parliamentary seat.
Zainal Abidin was previously a parliamentary secretary in the Foreign Ministry when he was the Nibong Tebal MP in 2004.

A local boy, Zainal Abidin’s family home is located in one of the villages here but other than to his fellow villagers, he is not that well-known in the non-Malay community.

Instead, he often appears at BN functions with Nibong Tebal BN co-ordinator Tan Cheng Liang, who is also former Jawi state assemblyman and tipped to contest the Jawi state seat, purportedly to show a united BN front.

It is obvious that Nibong Tebal has been “under attack” by BN which is intent on winning the two state seats and the parliamentary one back this time around.

This year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced a RM8.5 million allocation for Nibong Tebal for development projects such as construction of a multi-purpose hall in Nibong Tebal (RM3 million), repainting of apartments (RM2 million), repairing of houses in Indian and Chinese villages (RM2 million) and rebuilding of Sekolah Agama Rakyat Al-Amin (RM1.8 million).

Fishing is an industry in the area as the Krian River runs through Nibong Tebal.
A few months ago, Tan handed out cooking utensils and equipment worth about RM160,000 to single mothers and low-income families under the 1Azam programme.

There was also a “promotional blitz” of sorts when the MCA launched its Jom Masuk Kampung (Let’s Enter The Villages) roadshow in Penang at Nibong Tebal with all of the top MCA leadership spending the day at various villages in the constituency.

More recently, BN allocated a further RM3 million, on top of the RM1 million it had earlier allocated, to the building fund of SMJK Jit Sin II which is located in the constituency. The school is in the midst of raising RM30 million for its building fund.

But all this attention by BN does not seem to impress many of the constituents. “We are not small children who can be pleased by offerings of sweets and candies. Do they think us stupid?” a resident said when asked if they feel indebted to BN for all the goodies it has been handing out to the constituency.

After speaking to the villagers, it is clear that the general sentiment seems to be one of disgust, disappointment and even hatred for BN and its leaders.

“They think we are slow-thinking villagers who do not know how to access the Internet to get the real story behind their corruption and excesses? There they are spending our money like their own and then when elections come, they pretend to give us little titbits as if it is from their own pocket,” one Jawi resident said.

Many of them said they would not give BN another chance to “cheat” and “lie” to them. “If I see any of them, I turn around and walk away. I feel it is really time that we changed the whole federal government, not only change our state assemblymen and MP,” said an elderly resident who’s been following the political scene closely through the news and the Internet.

A quiet village in Nibong Tebal, where the electorate is made up of about 55 per cent non-Malays and about 45 per cent Malays,
He said it was not really about the individual component parties any more but more about BN versus Pakatan Rakyat (PR). “Even if PR were to put a PAS candidate for the parliamentary seat, I am certain PR will still win the seat,” he said.

He added that the scare tactics by BN about hudud did not turn the non-Malays off PR but instead make them even more disgusted with BN. “Again, they seem to think we are fools. We all know hudud is only for Muslims so why should we even be afraid of something that has nothing to do with us?”

Zainal Abidin is expected to go head to head with Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Mansor Othman, the Penang PKR chief. Mansor is the incumbent Penanti state assemblyman and it seems he’s destined for bigger things, such as a Cabinet position if PR succeeds in its bid to win Putrajaya.

Mansor may be the PR candidate for Nibong Tebal.
A PKR member said voters in Nibong Tebal were not in the least bit angry with PKR over Tan Tee Beng leaving the party and becoming a BN-friendly independent MP. “In fact, voters may construe this as another dirty trick by BN and this may just anger them more so this could mean more votes for PKR,” he said.

He said this may be why Mansor may be chosen to contest this seat as he is the PKR state chief and the current deputy chief minister. “Having someone more ‘established’ and experienced will be an advantage to PKR,” he said.

Earlier there was talk that Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wanted to take this seat but he has confirmed that he will continue to stand in Permatang Pauh. There is also talk of Anwar’s second daughter, Nurul Nuha, being proposed as a candidate for Nibong Tebal.

Mansor also reportedly confirmed that Nurul Nuha’s name was listed as a possible candidate for Nibong Tebal.

So, will it be the relatively new Nurul Nuha or will it be Mansor? According to a voter, it doesn’t really matter.

“As long as it is Pakatan Rakyat, we will vote for the candidate but we do not want another frog so the party better put someone reliable there,” said the PKR member. Despite the positive reactions PR has been getting from voters there, a grassroots member said it would still be a tough fight.

“We are not so worried about the non-Malay votes but winning the Malay votes can be tough so it will be a close call,” he predicted.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Battle? Don’t be so dramatic. The MP is supposed to LEAVE after 2 terms preferably or they become a stale colluding farce that cannot challenge APARTHEID despite parliamentary immunity that allow Road Tolls, forced military conscriptions, Astro monopolies (refusing to legalise satellite dishes) and other nonsense like refusing to lower Election Deposits which are so high that the majority of the lower and middle class are prevented from running for election due to the sheer cost in a form of plutocracy that becomes nepotistic then dictatorlike and eventually resorts to sabotage of activists and the 5th estate via social sabotage, staged ’embarassing events’ (that result in sh1t cake retaliations) or even worse, neurotech and psychiatric sabotage in extreme cases where the target is too clever for their fundo mindsets, LIES and undemocratic intentions against the people.

He added that the scare tactics by BN about hudud did not turn the non-Malays off PR but instead make them even more disgusted with BN. “Again, they seem to think we are fools. We all know hudud is only for Muslims so why should we even be afraid of something that has nothing to do with us?”

. . . so why should we even be afraid of something that has nothing to do with us? . . .

Politics of expedience gives rise to the racists to apply apartheid and fuels the cowardice of Pakatan politicians who think like this. This is an ethically corrupt stance that will lead to dictators, nepotists and death of democracy in general. BN is apartheid and corrupt, but Pakatan is as bad if not worse in this sort of severe weakness. Hudud is an abomination against Human Rights and any person who goes . . . so why should we even be afraid of something that has nothing to do with us? . . . is one of the people of the world who fuels the cause of evil and oppression of humanity. If they have no capacity to care for such issues, they cannot care for democracy and thus are unqualified to run the nation . . .

HONG KONG, Oct 25 — Chinese author Wang Xiaofang, a former government official turned best-selling novelist, is a forceful advocate for democratization and staunch critic of Chinese contemporaries who he sees as too cosy with the establishment.

Since resigning as secretary to the deputy mayor of Shenyang city in northeastern China, Wang has written “officialdom” novels drawing on his Communist Party insider’s experience to expose greed, intrigue, corruption and factional rivalry in the highly secretive and murky world of Chinese politics.

In “The Civil Servant’s Notebook,” his first book translated into English and due out next month, Wang, 49, skewers politicians reminiscent of Bo Xilai, the ousted politician at the centre of China’s biggest political scandal in two decades.

The Shenyang-based Wang, whose 13 novels have been widely pirated and have sold 3 million official copies, spoke with Reuters on the sidelines of the Hong Kong Literary Festival about Honore de Balzac and urine-drinking as a metaphor for absolute authority.

Q: What kinds of difficulties have you encountered in publishing your type of work in China?

A: “My fourth book, ‘The Mayor’s Secretary,’ made its rounds all over China in the search of an accepting publisher. I managed to get through to some publishers that would have frequent changes in management and editors so I can sometimes slip something through but even then, it would get rejected most of the time. I have not published for two years. I have four books waiting to get published. The environment has become more restrictive in the past two years.

“I stayed low profile in mainland China for a while. I don’t publicize my work there. There’s no TV series or film I can profit from. I have not received Chinese awards. They wouldn’t dare make a film out of this, and they’re not allowed to. In the beginning I received many threats, telling me to stop or they will chop off my hands. Some officials would look through my fictional work and say I’m writing about them and directly implicating them. They all look for themselves.”

Q: How do you feel about the works of other Chinese writers? What’s your reaction to Mo Yan being awarded the Nobel Prize?

A: “I give my congratulations to Mo Yan. His works stem from the stories and civilization of his hometown, depicting the life and culture of that society. Not all literature necessarily has to lash out against the government. One can certainly write about a myriad of things in life. Mo Yan took that route.

“Many Chinese writers do comply with the system. They have stable salaries even if they don’t write. China’s writers, once they earn a bit of reputation, will aim for official positions in writer’s associations. The well-known writers in China are all vice chairmen or chairmen of these associations, which means they are Party officials. They have their private cars.

“Most Chinese writers in the mainland eulogize authority. For instance, something like Honore de Balzac’s critical realism — mainland writers do not employ that. They employ eulogistic realism. They applaud the system.

“I aspire to a new style of writing, like how Joyce and Proust made contributions to literary history with their stream of consciousness approach, or Franz Kafka’s impact on 20th century literature. But there hasn’t been a similar literary movement in China. They imitate previous styles and ideas from the West but never created their own genre. Lu Xun, for instance, whom I respect very much, did not create a new style.”

Q: How are your books a commentary on the Bo Xilai scandal and on China’s current political atmosphere?

A: “The Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun case may seem out of the ordinary, but they are in fact inevitable. There will be other similar occurrences. It’s the system. They are all the same characters. There’s a character similar to Bo Xilai in my recent book. As long as there’s absolute authority, it will produce such authority figures. Absolute authority means absolute corruption. This event shows the urgency and necessity of reform in the Chinese system.

“In this book, one of the officials had been drinking urine for five years because he thinks it has medicinal benefits. Then during a banquet his friends poured him a beer and he cried because he had been drinking urine for such a long time. The urine symbolizes the cultural garbage inherent to the system that the official complies with, and that’s believed to be beneficial. I won’t comment on the political, but I hope that China can move towards reform. Reform of civil society and law is China’s Golden Road towards future progress. I hope the new leadership can bring this about.”

Q: Do you see a burgeoning Chinese literary movement? Will this society in transition produce a new crop of writers?

A: “If they all become party officials, then no. Many don’t have the courage to rely solely on their pen to make a living…

“Most of the material coming from Chinese writers today, the ones translated into English, talk about the period before or during the Cultural Revolution but do not focus on China’s current affairs. As for works that do focus on current society, the ones that write about urban life are full of depictions of song and dance and wealth, while the ones set in the countryside depict the beautiful scenery. They do not touch upon the darkness of current reality. Under such a system, we cannot be ourselves. We become spiritual eunuchs and helpless bystanders. This is extremely painful. Your soul is not free.”

“In this man-made system, the human has become a non-human. So if I just sat on the inside and kept watching, then I will also turn into a beetle, like in Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis.’ The person from my past political life has passed. The person sitting in front of you is an ordinary man, a writer.” — Reuters

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

. . . urine-drinking as a metaphor for absolute authority . . .

Little wonder the Lee junta family in Singapore introduced 3% reprocessed sewer treated waste water (thats both urine AND faeces), into the water system in Singapore. That way the NLP will affect the people and make them more ‘obedient’. Aren’t we all glad we are not living in Singapore? Incidentally troublemaker Japan looks quite bad too in creating the ‘Faeces Steak’. Please educate the peoples of ASEAN what they are up against writers and 1st world minded nations, the political junta has in place a system of oppression, subtle or not, and purveyors of such ‘urine drinking by proxy (i.e. grey water)’ mindsets must not be let off and must be outed. 2 terms only!

Jakarta Police display airsoft guns seized during the arrest of two men accused of selling the illegal guns on Facebook at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday. (JG Photo/Safir Makki) Jakarta Police display airsoft guns seized during the arrest of two men accused of selling the illegal guns on Facebook at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

TheSplodge – 10:41pm Oct 22, 2012

Commentator Commentary :

What a pathetic waste of time and how is this the 2nd headline? These guns fire plastic pellets for gawd sake. Is this really the best use of police time? Mind you, anything harder than plastic and the police would have run away.

President Susilo, too busy colluding, or asleep behind the wheel? Any can detest Christians and Buddhists but they have a right to be present in all societies in the world as much as a Satanist or a Goth into Vampirism. Muslims in fact are much noisier what with the loudspeakers and all that . . . Anything beyond the decibel level of human voices should be deemed illegal but why the demolitions in such a fundo manner? President Susilo? Investigations? Reparations?

So, legally, a Member of Parliament cannot resign his or her seat and re-contest that seat in a by-election. This means that issue first needs to be addressed. And then we need to amend/abrogate the Article in the Constitution that guarantees all Malaysians freedom of association. You will be denied freedom of association once you get elected into office.

First please read Chief Minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng’s press statement below. I have not edited or amended it because I want you to read it as it is.

It looks like someone had translated this statement into English from the original Chinese version. Since this press release carries the Chief Minister’s name there should be a higher standard of language used. The grammar and sentence structure should be as flawless as possible and words or phrases such as ‘political frogs’ should be avoided.

Can you see that the list of ‘names’ we can attach to various Malaysian personalities is endless? You only need to allow your imagination to run wild and Malaysians certainly have a world-class imagination when it comes to giving people ‘names’. I bet the comments below are going to be flooded with some very creative and imaginative ‘names’ of people you love to hate, me included.

Nevertheless, I am giving Guan Eng the benefit of the doubt and will assume that his aides and speechwriters would usually prepare his press statements. I am sure Guan Eng is too busy to sit down with pen and paper and spend hours writing all these statements. Guan Eng has to review the quality of his staff and outsource some of this work if necessary in the interest of maintaining a higher standard.

One of the criteria of a good speechwriter would be the research required. The statements must not only be consistent with earlier statements and the party stand but they must also be consistent with the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, the State Constitution, convention, tradition, cultural norms, religious sensitivities, sentiments and whatnot.

There are so many things to consider in making a statement because in this age of the information revolution people will remember what you said even 30 or 40 years ago. So you cannot make a faux pas and get away with it. It will come back to haunt you later. And the ‘I have been misquoted’ excuse no longer works, as many people have discovered.

I can afford to ignore all these ‘pitfalls’ and write ‘no holds barred’. I do not need for people to like or love me because I will not be contesting the election and, therefore, do not need your votes. The same can’t be said for Guan Eng. Public perception and public support is very crucial in Guan Eng’s case. This will determine whether he wins or loses the election.

Now, before you go off tangent and start saying that this is a Guan Eng bashing article, please note for the record that Guan Eng is one of my more favourite politicians. I actually went to Penang back in 2008 to help campaign for him. I did not do that for the other Pakatan Rakyat politicians other than Ronnie Liu and Nurul Izzah Anwar (and the proof is all on YouTube if you care to do a Google search).

Nazri Aziz made a statement in Parliament today saying that Malaysia is neither a Secular State nor an Islamic State. And the reason Nazri said this, according to him, is because Malaysia’s Constitution is ‘silent’ on the matter and makes no mention of it.

I find that politicians will quote the Constitution when it suits them and if it does not then they will quote the Qur’an, the Hadith, the Sunnah, the Social Contract, the Merdeka Agreement, the 18-Point Agreement, the 20-Point Agreement, the New Economic Policy, the Election Manifesto, the Reid Commission, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and whatnot.

If Nazri wants to follow the Constitution then the Constitution is also silent on the matter of the race and religion of the Prime Minister. Legally, Lim Guan Eng can become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. But Guan Eng cannot become the Prime Minister even though legally, according to the Constitution, he can. And we know why he cannot and also know that it has nothing to do with the Constitution.

Basically, politicians will make a statement and then they will find the justification for that statement. And most times they will contradict themselves from one statement to another. And if they fail to find the right justification they can always use convention, tradition, cultural norms, religious sensitivities, sentiments, etc., as the excuse to justify what they say.

So which ‘guideline’ do we follow then? The Constitution, the Qur’an, the Hadith, the Sunnah, the Social Contract, the Merdeka Agreement, the 18-Point Agreement, the 20-Point Agreement, the New Economic Policy, the Election Manifesto, the Reid Commission, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, convention, tradition, cultural norms, religious sensitivities, sentiments, the powers of the Minister, or what?

We must note that each of those various ‘guidelines’ may contradict one other. So, when yesterday we used one, today we use another, and tomorrow we use yet another, this means we are contradicting ourselves.

Legally, when you vote for someone, whom are you voting for? At the back of your mind you may be voting for the party rather than the candidate. That may be what you are subconsciously doing. But I am asking: legally, whom do you vote for?

When a Member of Parliament stands up in Parliament, the Speaker will address you as, say, “Ahli (Member) dari Lembah Pantai”. The Speaker does not address you as “Ahli dari PKR” or “Ahli dari Pakatan Rakyat”. So you are the wakil or ahli from Lembah Pantai. That is your ‘legal status’. Which party you are from is not the issue. Hence even if you change parties that does not affect your Parliament status.

Now, if we want whoever changes parties to resign (by law) and re-contest the seat in a by-election, we will first need to amend the law that bars someone who resigns from re-contesting for a period of five years.

Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail resigned her Permatang Pauh seat in mid-2008. That means she cannot contest any Parliament seat until at least mid-2013. And that also means she will have to give the coming general election a miss, unless she decides to contest a state seat instead.

So, legally, a Member of Parliament cannot resign his or her seat and re-contest that seat in a by-election. This means that issue first needs to be addressed. And then we need to amend/abrogate the Article in the Constitution that guarantees all Malaysians freedom of association. You will be denied freedom of association once you get elected into office.

It also must be made clear that if you get elected into office you are not Wakil Rakyat but Wakil Parti. And to make sure this is clear, the Speaker must address the Members of Parliament as, say, “Ahli dari PKR” and not “Ahli dari Lembah Pantai”.

Can you see the changes that will be required? It is not merely a simple matter of amending a few words in the State Constitution. A paradigm shift will be required including reconditioning the minds of the voters and the minds of those people who the voters vote into office.

Okay, back to Nazri’s statement today. Nazri is using the Constitution as his guide and his argument is that Malaysia is neither a Secular State nor an Islamic State. So what are we then?

For sure Malaysia is not a Republic because we are a Constitutional Monarchy. And the nine State Rulers are Heads of Islam in their respective states while His Majesty the Agong is Head of Islam for the Federation (plus the four states that do not have Rulers and instead have Governors).

What powers do the Rulers have as Head of Islam? For example, say, Their Highnesses the Sultans of Kelantan and Terengganu want to implement Hudud in their respective states since these two State Assemblies have already approved it years ago. Can this be done?

Nazri would say ‘no’ because Parliament first needs to approve these laws. And since Parliament has not approved it (or has rejected it) then it can’t be done. New laws or amendments to old laws need to be approved by Parliament.

But then is Islam a State matter under the charge of the Rulers or a Federal matter under the charge of Parliament? Ah, Nazri will argue, but Hudud is a legal matter, not a religious matter. So the Federal government and not the State governments have authority over this matter.

Okay, but then apostasy (leaving Islam), drinking/selling of liquor, adultery, illicit sex (sex outside marriage), khalwat (close proximity), etc., are also religious issues. And they are also legal issues. Each state has its own laws and its own forms of punishment for these ‘crimes’. And they differ from one state to another.

We must also remember that although, officially, there are no Hudud laws in Malaysia, those crimes I mentioned above come under Hudud. Hence we DO have Hudud in Malaysia. The only thing is we do not call them Hudud. It is ‘silent’ as to what they are. So, for purposes of giving them a name, we call them Shariah laws.

But Shariah laws are a collection of laws. And one of these collections of laws under the Shariah is Hudud. So what Malaysia has done is it has allowed the implementation of (part of) Hudud as long as you call them Shariah laws and not Hudud laws. You can implement Hudud laws but do not label them as Hudud although they are in reality Hudud laws.

It is like the issue of usury or riba’. In Islam, riba’ is haram (forbidden). So don’t call it riba’. Call it faedah (benefit/interest) or keuntungan (profit/gain). Then it is no longer haram. It is halal (kosher).

Sex outside marriage (zina) is also haram. So don’t call it zina. Call it mut’a (temporary marriage). You get married for a couple of hours just for sex so it is no longer zina and hence not haram. After the sex you ‘divorce’.

Burkha for Nudist Muslims anyone?

Can we take this further? Say you have a bad cough. You then get the doctor (a Muslim doctor if need be) to say that you need some brandy to get rid of your cough. So, for health reasons, you can drink brandy and it is no longer haram. You don’t call it arak. You call it ubat.

Yes, then we can issue a fatwah concerning ‘defending’ Islam and then blow up a school bus with 50 Jewish children inside it. It is not called murder any longer. It is called jihad.

Can you see there is no limit to what we can do when we twist and turn to suit our agenda? And can you also see why Malaysians in general and Malays-Muslims in particular are a very confused lot? They contradict themselves and make statements to suit their objective even though these statements do not make sense.

One day they scream about freedom of this, that or the other. The next day they make a statement that violates all these freedoms. The issue of Islam and the rules of Islam is one case in point. Do we arrest and then jail, cane, fine, tickle, torture, slap, fondle, spank or punch a Muslim who is caught drinking liquor? Furthermore, do we just punish the offender or also the person/establishment that ‘collaborated’ in the ‘crime’?

When you allow prostitution in your massage parlour, not only the prostitutes but also the massage parlour owner will be punished. If your pub employs Muslim staff and they sell beer to Muslims, not only the Muslim customer will be punished. The Muslim staff and the pub owner will face punishment as well.

Is this the law? Yes, according to some states, but not according to the Federal government — or else the government-owned establishments and GLCs will also face punishment. But then they do not face punishment, do they?

So it appears like this is a State criminal law and not a Federal criminal law. People can face criminal action in some states. And this is Hudud although not called Hudud. Hence it appears like the States can by-pass or ignore Parliament if they wish to do so. But then the Federal government says that the States cannot implement or amend laws without the approval of Parliament.

Aiyah! Pening kepala! Yang mana yang betul ni?

Okay, so can Penang introduce laws or amend laws that make party-hopping a crime? Do they need Parliament’s approval or an amendment to the Federal Constitution for this? And while on that subject, can Penang then also pass a law that DOES NOT make it a crime for Muslims to drink beer?

And if not, why not? Is it because His Majesty the Agong and not the Penang State government is the authority over Islam? And if that is the case then can His Majesty the Agong introduce Hudud in Penang whether the Penang State Government and/or DAP/Pakatan Rakyat agrees or not?

Yes, confusing, is it not? Sometimes the Minister has sole authority. Sometimes the Cabinet is the authority. Sometimes the Menteri Besar/Chief Minister has authority. Sometimes the State EXCO has authority. Sometimes Parliament has authority. Sometimes the EXCO Member has authority. Sometimes the Ruler has authority. Sometimes the Mufti has authority. Sometimes the Religious Department has authority. Sometimes the Attorney-General has authority. Sometimes the IGP has authority. Sometimes the OCDP has authority. Sometimes the CPO has authority. Sometimes the court is the authority.

And sometimes the dogcatcher is the final authority as to whether to kill the stray dogs by drowning or send them to a dog’s home.

***************************************

Lim Guan Eng’s Press Release today

The PR state government will not be deterred by BN’s support for the culture of political frogs but is determined to table a historic constitutional amendment to push through an anti-hopping law in the Penang state assembly meeting on 1 November 2012. The State Legal Advisor has been tasked with the necessary process of gazetting the proposed constitutional amendment.

Any amendment to the Penang state constitution requires a 2/3 majority and PR has the required numbers by holding 29 out of the 40 seats. All 3 parties in Penang PR of PAS, PKR and DAP have also supported the proposed constitutional amendment requiring State Assembly members who jump or change their party affiliation to resign and re-contest in a by-election.

BN and MCA have taken the opportunity to hit out at the Penang state government at yesterday’s MCA Annual General Assembly by dramatically labelling the proposed anti-hopping law as unconstitutional and that it will even creating a constitutional crisis that will be the very foundation of the Federal Constitution and the nation at risk. The Penang state government believes that the anti-hopping law should be within the Federal Constitution for 3 principal reasons.

One, it respects the democratic mandate of the people being kingmakers by allowing their constituents to either support or reject the decision of their elected representatives to hop from one party to another. As parliamentary democracy is the basis of our Federal Constitution, the anti-hopping law by reinforcing its democratic character will only serve to strengthen the Federal Constitution.

Two, the anti-hopping law does not infringe on a person’s right of freedom of association as he or she can join any party subject to a renewal of mandate by the constituents. Finally this will also ensure the practice of political accountability as well as principled values and public integrity in Penang, where elected representatives can not be traded like a commodity at the highest price.

BN and MCA’s condemnation of Penang PR’s anti-hopping laws provides a stark difference between BN’s focus on party interests and personalities as compared to PR emphasis on policies and people.

Lim Guan Eng

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

No word on apartheid but more attempts to control power in DAP? Fools do not understand that a political party is not a family business. DAP really needs to be taught a lesson for trying to force MPs to stay in the party. As per democracy, any MP can leave, but a by-election should be conducted immediately WITH that MP allowed to run for election so long as that MP has not yet spent a second term in office because the people may be on the MP’s side and not the party in individually considered cases. This current CM has spent 1.5 terms in office and the political culture has worsened since and become less democratic since DAP won in Penang. Time for 3rd Force parties to take over before DAP becomes a second PAP like in Singapore. They imagine synchronicity will work here to ensure DAP’s rule forever. That will not be so, DAP will be kicked out because DAP has failed to keep 90% of campaign promises and has been particularly antagonistic to the Muslims here.

ARTICLE 8

What Is A Private Attorney General

Private attorney general is an informal term usually used today in the United States to refer to a private party who brings a lawsuit considered to be in the public interest, i.e., benefiting the general public and not just the plaintiff.[1] The person considered “private attorney general” is entitled to recover attorney’s fees if he or she prevails. The rationale behind this principle is to provide extra incentive to private citizens to pursue suits that may be of benefit to society at large.

Many civil rights statutes rely on private attorneys general for their enforcement. In Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises,[2] one of the earliest cases construing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the United States Supreme Court ruled that “A public accommodations suit is thus private in form only. When a plaintiff brings an action . . . he cannot recover damages. If he obtains an injunction, he does so not for himself alone but also as a ‘private attorney general,’ vindicating a policy that Congress considered of the highest priority.” The United States Congress has also passed laws with “private attorney general” provisions that provide for the enforcement of laws prohibiting employment discrimination, police brutality, and water pollution. Under the Clean Water Act, for example, “any citizen” may bring suit against an individual or a company that is a source of water pollution.[citation needed]

Another example of the “private attorney general” provisions is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). RICO allows average citizens (private attorneys general) to sue those organizations that commit mail and wire fraud as part of their criminal enterprise.[citation needed] To date, there are over 60 federal statutes[citation needed] that encourage private enforcement by allowing prevailing plaintiffs to collect attorney’s fees.

Attorneys who function as a private attorney general do so without compensation. The statutes permitting a plaintiff to recover attorneys’ fees have been held not to apply when the plaintiff is an attorney.

Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Award Act

The U.S. Congress codified the private attorney general principle into law with the enactment of Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Award Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. § 1988. The Senate Report on this statute stated that The Senate Committee on the Judiciary wanted to level the playing field so that private citizens, who might have little or no money, could still serve as “private attorneys general” and afford to bring actions, even against state or local bodies, to enforce the civil rights laws. The Committee acknowledged that, “[i]f private citizens are to be able to assert their civil rights, and if those who violate the Nation’s fundamental laws are not to proceed with impunity, then citizens must have the opportunity to recover what it costs them to vindicate these rights in court.” Where a plaintiff wins his or her lawsuit and is considered the “prevailing party,” § 1988 acts to shift fees, including expert witness fees [at least in certain types of civil rights actions, under the Civil Rights Act of 1991, even if not in § 1983 actions], and to make those who acted as private attorneys general whole again, thus encouraging the enforcement of the civil rights laws. The Senate reported that it intended fee awards to be “adequate to attract competent counsel” to represent client with civil rights grievances. S. Rep. No. 94-1011, p. 6 (1976). The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the act to provide for the payment of a “reasonable attorney’s fee” based on the fair market value of the legal services.
Other uses

The term also refers more generally to any person who holds a general power of attorney from someone else, and also to any person who represents the public in any civil or criminal court proceeding. Most criminal prosecutions today in the United States and other countries in the Anglo-American legal tradition are conducted by public prosecutors who are public employees, but until the late 19th century most criminal prosecutions in the United States were conducted by private persons, usually but not always lawyers, either paid by private parties or asked by the court to serve pro bono. Private criminal prosecutions are still legal in several of those countries, including several states of the United States.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Henceforth with the correct facts and correct case, ALL citizens are Attorney Generals. Meanwhile Bar Council ignores all sorts of abuses in law and constitution . . .

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s popularity or the “Ah Jib Gor” factor will help cajole a segment of the Chinese community back to Barisan Nasional (BN) in the coming polls, MCA grassroots leaders have agreed, but warned that the same sentiment could not topple the opposition in its urban fortresses.

This was the resounding sentiment among delegates attending the MCA’s 59th annual general meeting at Wisma MCA yesterday, which is seen as the party’s final chance to chart its election strategies in the months ahead as it heads into its toughest battle yet.

“Najib is good because he has done a lot of programmes for the people, I am sure the Chinese will vote BN,” said one delegate, Lim Chee Cheong, from Rasah in Negri Sembilan.

“Najib has done a lot for the Chinese. And he has our support and the Chinese community support as well,” another delegate, Loke Poh Chye from Pengkalan Kota in Penang, toldThe Malaysian Insider.

During the meeting earlier, among one of the key battle cries sounded by the party leadership was a call for delegates to “Stand with Najib”, who was extensively described as a leader popular among the Chinese.

In his presidential address, party president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek repeatedly praised Najib’s transformative policies and attention to Chinese community issues, even telling the prime minister, “Sir, sometimes I think that you are too kind.”

At the MCA Youth AGM on Saturday, party deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai predicted that the MCA will “rise again” in the coming polls, citing Najib’s popularity among the Chinese community as one of the key reasons behind the possibility.

He said the prime minister’s outreach towards the Chinese community, even resorting to social media tools like Facebook to create a Chinese persona, “Ah Jib Gor” (Brother Najib), had successfully convinced voters that the community would not be left out of the nation’s development.

“The feel-good factor is coming back. And the commitment from the PM to the Chinese… the Ah Jib Gor factor shows that he will listen to the Chinese community,” Liow had said.

But despite these leaders’ optimism, several MCA delegates approached by The Malaysian Insider yesterday agreed that the party would suffer the most when attempting to sway the urban Chinese vote, pointing out that in areas like Petaling Jaya Selatan or key states like Penang, it would be near impossible for the MCA to trounce the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal opposition pact.

“I don’t think so we can win back PJ, they are entrenched already with the opposition. I don’t think we can take Penang back either,” said Loh KF, a delegate from the area.

Loh was among several delegates who also admitted that the issue of corruption would be among BN’s greatest stumbling block to woo the Chinese vote, complaining that it was hard to answer voters who brought up issues like the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal and other graft cases.

Tham was also critical of the MCA’s focus on hudud law, a wedge issue used against the DAP and PAS who are members of the PR opposition pact.

“Most Chinese already understand that the hudud issue is hands-off, it’s a religious question, very sensitive. This issue shouldn’t be commented upon.

“After all, hudud has already been implemented in many countries, why be scared if we do no wrong?” Tham said.

But his opinion was not shared by Tenggara MCA delegate Catherine Chia, from Johor.

Chia said the hudud issue was critical to be highlighted on as it affects Chinese culture and was demeaning towards women.

“I think this hudud will affect everybody, not only Chinese, the whole nation. If the nation is under hudud law, we will become just like the Middle East nations. And eight of the most corrupt nations come from that region,” Loke said.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Hey MCA morons. How about ‘Ah Jib Peng’. (‘Peng’ = Friend or EQUAL / 朋友 or Péngyǒu). Who needs a ‘Gor’ (Older Brother in Hokkien dialect)? Who needs to be a Junior or a ‘Lek’ (Little brother in Hokkien dialect). MCA Pres. malay Title holding Minister Chua Soi Lek, just because your name has a ‘lek, does not mean that Najib is EVERYONE ELSE’S ‘Gor’ for the whole of the Chinese community. And given China’s size compared to Malaysia, how the hell can the Chinese Community be a ‘Lek’?

At very least equality. . . (and that is already stretching the fact that Malaysia is not even in USA’s league to be an equal to China . . . ) Lapdog Alert! Chua Soi Lek, has billions, the MCA has billions, if the MCA cannot even get equality for the Chinese, the MCA are a disgrace to the Chinese community, and already are term limitless as well.

Grant the below 3 items to justify the term limitlessness at very least or GTFO of Dewan! Weak and undemocratic! Shame on MCA! ‘Gor’?!? MCA = STUPID and COWARDLY . . . ‘Gor’ ? More like Gorean (S&M subculture) . . . more so when China is already starting to challenge USA no way will the Chinese be a ‘Lek’ – in fact the Chinese should be ‘Gor’! But this is not the Chinese way, so equality will be fine though the true situation should be that a Chinese PM will be insisted on by the Malays AS WELL AS EQUALITY so that China will be so pleased that they will invest in Malaysia more, than tolerate MCA’s misrepresentations and self serving manipulations – indirectly suffering dhmmitude of the local Malaysian Chinese by TACIT ASSENT via inaction . . . Grant the below 3 items to justify the term limitlessness at very least or GTFO of Dewan! Weak and undemocratic yet too wealthy as well!

Shame on MCA! ‘Gor’?!? Equal is all anyone will tolerate especially since the Malays could well be Yunnan Chinese who interbred with the Orang Asli (Austronesian Negritos) to become the mixed race calle ‘Malay’ after all! NO Big Brother mentality par excellence Ketuanan.

The MCA Youth chief says that it was only after the separation of politics and religion that the European countries prospered.

MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong attacked PAS for trying to return the country to the dark ages by implementing a theocratic state, which he said was a feudal political system.

In his opening address at the 48th MCA Youth Annual General Assembly meeting today, Wee said that the European countries have spent thousands of years to do away with a political system that combines with religion.

“It was only after the separation of politics and religion that saw the birth of the Renaissance and eventually the Industrial Revolution” he said

Wee told some 600 delegates that it would be mockery should PAS strive to reintroduce a system that had been abandoned by the world.

“We must remember that the democracy and human rights which we have today is the result of the separation of politics and religion.

“We must not allow PAS to return us to an age that has long past us. This ideology must be rejected by the people of this country,” he said.

He also took a jab at DAP’s inconsistency on the hudud issue, saying that the party chairman Karpal Singah and advisor Lim Kit Siang once made a strong stance against hudud law, but not the current leadership.

“The new generation of leadership in DAP has changed their stand by saying that there is no need to fear an Islamic state as long as you don’t steal or rob,” he said.

Later at a press conference, Wee was asked if MCA’s constant harping on hudud issues would translate to Chinese support to BN. Sarawak’s SUPP also highlighted the hudud issue but they did not do well in the state election last year.

Wee said the opposition’s reaction would not have been so great if the Chinese were not concerned by the hudud issue.

MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai, who was also at the press conference, believed in the Chinese’s wisdom to differentiate between a national election and a state election.

“(In a national election), you elect the federal government, where the Federal Constitution is of utmost importance to the nation. You can’t allow PAS to become the government to implement such a policy in this country,” he said.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

BUT STILL no word for equality? Does Wee know that even without a Theocratic state which MCA has kindly chosen to fight against, that the APARTHEID of BUMIPUTRA still represents something as bad (though not twice as bad with Hudu as well?). China is virtually becoming the GREATEST nation on Earth at least for this next century as Russia builds up that Russian backyard . . . Wee should never accept less than equality for all Malaysians ESPECIALLY the Chinese minorities.

Malaysia can barely qualify to be China’s lackey or match Iran or even the USA. Don’t tell me that the Chinese do not deserve at very least equality in Malaysia, even when Malaysia will never ever be China’s equal. Since the Chinese are a majority and a eventual dominant power in the world, should the Chinese demand Special Privileges instead? The Malays are not giving the Chinese minorities face in Malaysia and thus are indirectly insulting China by refusing to grant equality. Think Minister Wee, as a Chinese where the China stands, don’t be complacent and term limitless.

BTW, MCA youth is not very youthful at all, youth ends the instance people get married or reach 18 or 21 years old, or in some considerations reach puberty. Wee is an old guy with wife and family ALSO multimillions worth, and term limitless to boot. I see no youth there. Wee is a big fat corrupted lapdog-grade boss type that probably has loads of mistresses and possibly drinks 50K in XO/VSOP on the weekends – youth? No way. Gotta be joking. Get some skinny callow (thats callow not sallow as in a certain LCW . . . sellouts to certain spiritual principles . . . ) unmarried AND poor, people to be ‘Youth’. MCA’s youth are middle aged and even OLD like Wee. Grant the below 3 items to justify the term limitlessness at very least or GTFO of Dewan! Weak and undemocratic!

Bruno Manser Fund says the probe into the RM40 million donation to Sabah Umno is ongoing.

A Swiss government investigation into the mystery donation of RM40 million to Sabah is still going on .

The Switzerland-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) said the case against UBS AG, a Swiss global financial services company operating out of Basel and Zurich, Switzerland, which is linked to the money, is continuing.

Lukas Straumann, director of BMF, confirmed that the investigation launched by the Swiss Attorney General is ongoing.

“It started on Aug 29 and is expected to take a couple of months at least until its conclusion,” he said in a message to his affiliates here.

The statement comes after the Dewan Rakyat was told on Oct 11 that the amount concerned that was seized by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) from a Sabah businessman at the Hong Kong International Airport in 2008 was a ‘political contribution’ to Sabah Umno by an unidentified donor.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz in a written reply to parliament on the outcome of the investigation into the affair denied that the seized amount was Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman’s money.

” From what we see, it is a very clear case of money-laundering. This is why the
official investigation was opened in the first place.”

He added that BMF has applied to be admitted as a private plaintiff in order to gain access to the case files.

“This might be a unique chance to find out more on the business between UBS and Musa because Swiss banking secrecy will be lifted during the investigation.

“Our position in this application is much stronger if we are backed by people from Sabah. This is why we seek to get plaintiffs from among Sabahans,” Straumann said referring to the BMF offer published in local news portal and also in its letters.

It is understood that several Sabahans have consented to be plaintiffs in the case being pursued in Switzerland.

Musa, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s point man in Sabah and the state’s longest serving Chief Minister has found himself in centre-stage after Sabah timber tycoon, Michael Chia Tien Foh, the man caught red-handed with S$16 million (about RM40 million) in his bag was detained by the ICAC in 2008.

Chia had allegedly told the ICAC that the money was not his but the Sabah Chief Minister’s. Musa subsequently denied all knowledge of Chia despite claims by Sabah businessmen that the two were close associates.

Nazri, who is also de facto Law Minister, has unwittingly added further controversy to the affair by sweeping it aside as a simple matter.

No explanation was given why the large amount of cash was being hand carried by Chia rather than through a an inter-bank transaction or how the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had come to the conclusion it was a political donation for Sabah Umno after investigating the case for four years.

Musa in a statement at the last Sabah State Assembly sitting said that he was not afraid of any investigation over the RM40 million and that the money was not his but Umno’s.

His remarks came days after Najib said in Kuala Lumpur that MACC had completed its investigation and that the papers were then with the Attorney-General, Abdul Gani Patail who is related to Musa through marriage.

While Nazri has claimed that the powerful ICAC wrapped up its case (perhaps through a government-to-government arrangement), it is not known for now how the Hong Kong-based Chia can escape prosecution as it is illegal for anyone to bring or take out such a large some of cash without a permit.

Chia’s link to Musa, who is also in charge of Yayasan Sabah which holds in trust for Sabahans large tracts of timber concession areas, was exposed by Sarawak Report which published online, flow charts of the money transactions that connected them.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Why does Nazri pretend there were no arrests? The EU and HK-ACC can obviously see whats happening.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand announced Saturday that Musa Hassan, who retired recently as Malaysia’s national police chief, would hold a Monday press conference in Bangkok with “new revelations” over the 2006 murder for hire of Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu.

“After her death it was revealed that she had been linked to the sale of two French-made submarines to Malaysia for US$1.3 billion – a deal under heavy suspicion of high-level corruption,” the FCCT announcement said. “The current Malaysian PM, Najib Razak, was then Minister of Defense and the national police chief was Musa Hassan. The revelations shook the Malaysian political landscape.”

Musa Hassan

It remains unsure if the announcement was a hoax. Attempts to reach Musa were unsuccessful. A Malaysiakini reporter said he has reached the former chief, but that Musa refused comment and said he hadn’t heard of the press conference. There was at least one error in the announcement — that Musa had quit as head of the police when he had actually retired with full honors. Although there have also been subsequent rumors that the press conference has been canceled, an FCCT officer told Asia Sentinel it appears to still be on, although it was moved from Oct. 19 to Monday.

The 60-year-old Musa retired on Sept. 13 after 41 years of service, the last six as national police chief. He was previously deputy inspector general. He has long been a controversial figure, having been investigated himself on allegations of corruption, particularly over the release of three members of illegal betting syndicates. Reform critics have accused him of using his police power to thwart investigations into corruption and to protect powerful figures in the government.

Officials with the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition said they had been caught off guard by the announcement that Musa would speak in Bangkok.

Local media reported earlier that Musa has been flirting with Parti Islam se-Malaysia, the fundamentalist Islamic component of the three-party opposition. Musa, however, has publicly denied he intended to join PAS. A source with Pakatan Rakyat told Asia Sentinel Musa had met with a top leader of PAS several months ago, but that the former police chief had no interest in politics and that it was unlikely he would join.

However, if anybody knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak, it would be Musa Hassan.

Six years ago, according to court testimony in a long-drawn-out Kuala Lumpur trial, bodyguards attached to the office of Najib, now the prime minister, dragged the translator and party girl out of a car into a patch of jungle near the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Shah Alam, As she begged for her life and apparently that of her unborn child, they knocked her unconscious, then shot her twice in the head.

Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, members of the elite Unit Tindakan Khas, then wrapped Altantuya’s body in C4 plastic explosives and blew her up, possibly to mangle her remains so badly that the fetus would be destroyed, according to a confession that Sirul made but which was never introduced in court despite its seeming validity.

In his cautioned statement, as confessions are called in Malaysia, the police corporal told authorities he and Azilah had been offered RM100,000 to kill the woman and her two companions, who were causing highly public embarrassment for Abdul Razak Baginda, Najib’s best friend. The 28-year-old Mongolian woman, in a letter found after her death, wrote that she was sorry she had been blackmailing Razak Baginda.

Ironically, if unknown persons hadn’t ordered Altantuya’s death, the story of the massive bribes for the purchase of the submarines would by this time probably have disappeared. Similar scandals with the same magnitude of questionable overpayments have since died down, one involving the purchases of Sukhoi jets and another involving the waste of hundreds of millions of dollars on a company owned by an United Malays National Organization crony to build patrol boats. However, continuing questions about her murder have kept the story alive.

As Asia Sentinel reported in June, French police records alleged that Razak Baginda was a central figure in a bribery case in which a total of nearly €150 million in payments were steered to two Razak Baginda companies, Perimekar Sdn Bhd and Terasasi Hong Kong Ltd from subsidiaries of DCN, the French defense giant, in connection with the purchase of the submarines by the Malaysian defense ministry. The records seized from DCN by the French police show that former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and the French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe were aware of the transactions. Memos obtained by Asia Sentinel show the French expected at least part of the money to be steered to UMNO, Malaysia’s biggest ethnic political party.

Despite a 14-month trial, neither the prosecutors, the defense nor the judge asked who had offered the RM100,000 payment to the two men. Najib’s chief of staff, Musa Safri, reportedly dispatched the two policemen to pick up Altantuya and her companions, who mercifully weren’t around.

Altantuya appears to have been killed at the behest of someone with considerable clout in Kuala Lumpur. If her dying statement to Sirul Azhar is to be accepted, as he recounted it in his confession, she appeared to have been carrying the baby of someone, perhaps high in power in Malaysia.

Najib has sworn on the Quran that he never met Altantuya, although she appears to have been in France at the same time as he was, accompanying Najib’s best friend, Razak Baginda. On June 11, 2005, for instance, Najib gave a press conference after having visited the site where the Scorpene submariners were being trained and, according to the log of an Australian submariner association, presented jackets made available by Perimekar – Abdul Razak Baginda’s company – to the crew.

After the arrest of the two bodyguards, eventually Abdul Razak Baginda was acquitted without having to put on a defense. There were a long string of irregularities in the trial, which as much as anything appeared to be designed on the part of the judiciary, the prosecution and perhaps the defense to make sure nobody in Najib’s office was investigated or called as witnesses.

The two bodyguards were convicted and sentenced to death. Their appeals were supposed to have been heard in February this year, eight months ago. Mysteriously their appeals have been delayed. They were supposed to be heard in August. They have been delayed again.

Last week Musa dropped a 2008 defamation suit against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim after Anwar accused him and Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail of conspiring to cover up a 1998 physical assault which left the then-imprisoned Anwar with a black eye and a permanent back problem. The dropping of the suit also fueled speculation that Musa was moving towards a rapprochement with the opposition. However, an opposition leader said the PR leadership was convinced he dropped the suit because he knew he wouldn’t be able to win it.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Send Interpol after the creeps! DAP did not keep 90% of campaign promises, (totally failed GE12’s Manifesto by which the voters cast their vote – those voters might as well vote for THEMSELVES as independents), no Local Councils, no asset declarations etc.. So that should mean DAP is also cheating, and are thieves of GE12, with nepotistic dictatorship at the top level in DAP that have caused near a score of top level member quits from DAP. The world now is indeed a global village.

ARTICLE 13

Who wants to be a millionaire? – Hornbill Unleashed – Mariam Mokhtar – October 20, 2012

To those who still doubt that Umno is the curse of the Malays, try cutting off the links between Umno and these people, and see what happens.

Most people are familiar with the song or TV game show “Who wants to be a millionaire?”. Had that question “Who wants to be a millionaire?” been put to Malaysians in the past, a majority of the rakyat would have responded, “Yes, I would”; but today, in Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s prosperous “1Malaysia”, the most likely reply from a Barisan Nasional crony would be a dismissive, “Huh. I’m already a multi-millionaire.”

The secret to success? Being an Umno politician, of course; but entry to this exclusive club is conditional upon selling one’s soul, integrity and mind, to serve a new master – Umno and all it stands for. So, while some Malays mock other religions for being idolatrous, they conveniently forget that they themselves worship the goddess Umno.

Umno uses religion for control. Umno’s brand of Islam is not to make better people out of the Malays, to ensure they live harmoniously with Malaysians of other faiths and to practise the tenets of their religion. Instead, Islam is used liberally in Umno politics, to subjugate and subdue the Malays. Few Malays speak up, because to be seen questioning Umno might be misconstrued as doubting Islam.

The intricate relationship between politics and business existed long before independence, but during former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s era, business and politics became inseparable. Under the guise of the NEP (New Economic Policy), the purpose of which was to lift the Malays out of poverty, Mahathir made some Malays millionaires, in what could only be described as an “overnight sensation”.

Umno expanded this business-cum-politics relationship, so that in today’s Malaysia, Najib makes no attempt to hide fraud and criminal activity; he just says it is for Umno, so it must be right. Najib does not even bother to deny that having close ties with Umno, will make Umno politicians and their cronies, members of the “millionaire’s club”.

Established businessmen, landowners, celebrity divas and VVIPs have all become millionaires, some with eight-figure fortunes, all because they pay homage to Umno. Civil servants, members of the judiciary, policemen and chief ministers all have the capacity to make several millions.

To those who still doubt that Umno is the curse of the Malays, try cutting off the links between Umno and these people, and see what happens. Imagine a child learning to ride a bicycle. The use of stabilisers will help. When these are removed, the child may tumble, but after a while, he will get the knack. Why are Malays so afraid of developing their own abilities?

At the event “Sepagi Bersama Perdana Menteri” (A morning with the prime minister) in Teluk Intan yesterday, Najib ridiculed the efforts of the opposition in bringing development to the country, but he was full of praise for BN’s track record and experience in development. He rubbished claims that the opposition coalition was stronger than BN.

Najib said, “The BN government knows that in shouldering the responsibility, we’ve got to have a sense of humanity and tawadduk [humility] to understand the aspirations of the people, to feel the pulse of people.”

Must win to survive

Talking about pulse, was Najib at all bothered that the son of one of his ministers can escape punishment after he and his bodyguard beat up men who are only doing their jobs? Would Najib care to comment on the high scale corruption of his ministers and why he is afraid of sacking them?

Did Najib sense the rakyat’s anger when Michael Chia attempted to smuggle RM40 million into the country? Was he aware that Sabah Umno members are furious that their party’s name was sullied? They believe that to protect Chief Minister Musa Aman, Najib claimed the money was meant for Sabah Umno. It is alleged that the money was Musa’s. One wonders how a chief minister would acquire that amount of cash.

Does Najib understand the rage of the rakyat when chief ministers abuse the public purse and use it for personal functions, like the recent wedding of the son of Malacca Chief Minister Ali Rustam, or last year’s scandal, when Najib was alleged to have abused his position and flown close friends and family to attend the engagement party of his daughter to the nephew of the Kazakhstan president?

Najib told the Perak crowd that despite the changing times, the guiding principles of BN had not altered and that it was necessary to have continuity: “The government should have continuity because if there is no continuity, the government can’t make long-term plans.”

Even a fool can see that Umno needs to win the 13th general election to survive. Umno needs to stay in power, to further ravage the country; Umno politicians need to raid the treasury to maintain their lifestyle. The alternative is a long prison term for robbing the nation, when the rakyat makes them answerable for their crimes.

Najib claimed that change was not good for the country because the people and nation would lose out: “As a developing country with a future, we need continuity, we need it not just for the sake of power, but for the people to get greater benefits under the BN.”

Najib might as well have said, “We need to continue to hoodwink you for Umno’s prolonged benefit.”

He then blamed the opposition for causing dissent among the masses, and teaching them a hatred of BN. He said that BN was confident of winning the GE13.

Naturally, Najib failed to mention the harassment of NGOs, civil liberty groups, the alternative media, the opposition and the ordinary members of the rakyat who have been championing true democracy. He omitted to say that his budget was an election budget.

Najib then told the 10,000-strong audience that BN had plans to develop the coastline of Perak and that the West Coast Expressway project would bring benefit to the people from Taiping to Banting.

Predictably, a few more BN cronies will become millionaires from this lucrative highway project, but most members of the rakyat will gain nothing.

Yesterday, Suaram teamed-up with youth movement Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) to train some 80 people on how to give ceramah on the issue in their respective constituencies.Human rights NGO Suaram has embarked on a programme to take information about the Scorpene submarine scandal to the masses in an attempt to fight back accusations by the authorities that it publicly lied on the issue.

The campaign plans to attract about 200 speakers, largely from opposition political parties, from around the country to focus on spreading the issue to the people, especially to villagers in the kampung.

NONEFormer Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel (left) yesterday conducted a ‘training of trainers’ programme for a group of people, made up mainly of PKR grassroots leaders from the northern region of the peninsula.

Cynthia spoke at length about the case during the two-hour session and distributed several documents on the explosive subject to the participants.

She explained the difference between the French and Malaysian court systems, saying that Suaram has always maintained that the case was being investigated by two Paris-based judges and not going through a full-blown trial in France.

The participants were also told that Suaram’s revelations on the Scorpene case have so far been based on French judicial papers.

The information was derived from findings made after Suaram filed a complaint against state-owned shipbuilder, DCNS, in 2009 for alleged payment of commissions, which is illegal in France, to top Malaysian officials for the purchase of the two Scorpene-class submarines.

Demonising Suaram

Cynthia was referring to a recent statement by French prosecutor Yves Charpenel, who was quoted by New Straits Times as saying that, despite claims by Malaysian online media, there was no trial going on in the Scorpene case.

Charpenel’s statement on this was then corrected by Suaram’s Paris-based lawyer, William Bourdon, who said the “inquiry is ongoing” and the question of a trial on the Scorpene matter would be decided by the investigating judges and not by the prosecutor.

NONE“Since the BN-controlled media and the government are all out todemonise and harass Suaram and its efforts to promote transparency and accountability in military spending, which amounts to billions of the rakyat’s money, we have no choice but to take this issue to the ground,” Cynthia said.

“Since it is impossible for us to be everywhere, we are happy to work with various groups that are interested in the truth and can help us share it with the people,” she said.

By harassment, Cynthia was referring to the action of six government agencies probing Suaram, which has been active since Operasi Lalangin 1987 when 106 social and political activists were detained under the Internal Security Act.

Cynthia and her team later spoke at a Bersih event in Padang Serai featuring the coalition’s co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan, before launching the Jelajah Scorpene campaign with SAMM in Telok Ayer Tawar late last night.

‘Mother of all issues’

SAMM chairperson Badrul Hisham Shaharin told PKR political speakers to equip themselves with proper knowledge about the Scorpene scandal that cost the country RM7.3 billion.

NONEHowever, Badrul Hisham, who is widely known as Chegu Bard, cautioned them not to be too technical so that the crowd they were speaking to fully understood the details of the deal, which was inked in 2002 when Najib Abdul Razak was defence minister.

Badrul reminded the audience that Najib, who is now prime minister, and Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, may have to attend the court in France should they be subpoenaed.

Najib and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin have refused to respond when asked about the inquiry in Paris, while Ahmad Zahid made a U-turnabout testifying in the matter, after having said earlier that he was prepared to.

Two of Najib’s former bodyguards were charged with the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, who is believed to be involved in the deal.

abdul razak baginda pc 201108 05Najib’s close associate, defence analyst Abdul Razak Baginda (right), was charged with abetting them in the murder, but he was acquitted without his defence being called.

“The Scorpene issue is the mother of all issues and we plan to make it the main issue during the coming general election,” Badrul in his speech at the launch of the campaign.

“This issue has opened a can of worms and revealed so many other issues, including possible corruption, transparency and accountability issues, rakyat’s money being wasted on military spending and the murder of a Mongolian national,” added the former PKR Youth leader.

Najib has denied any involvement in the case and the Defence Ministry insists that the deal was done above board.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

DAP makes no attempt to fight back accusations by the authorities that it publicly lied on the issue of 90% failed campaign promises – failed Local Council Elections, no declarations of MP assets, and many others that caused near a score of top level defections in DAP so far . . . why doesn’t Suaram take DAP to task? Selective persecution by SUARAM shows lack of ethics. Quangocrat alert! And with this sort of collusive mindset guess what will happen to Democracy when DAP entrenches itself? Vote 3rd Force!

5 native Iban farmers were this morning charged in the Magistrates Court in Serian this morning.

Village Headman Nyalu Anak Tampa, together with 2 other farmers Sanjan Anak Ambol and Samad Anak Junna, were jointly charged under section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt to Andrew Wong King Kiat, an administrative executive of United Teamtrade Sdn Bhd, a company issued with a provisional lease for 73,000 ha oil plam plantation over the land of which the 3 accused claimed are NCR land of Kampung Danau Melikin and 22 other Iban native communities in the area.

Another Danau Melikin farmer Donny Anak Mambu was accused of using an excavator under his control to damage a bridge across Sg Danau on 27.08.2012 and is charged under section 427 of the Penal Code for mischief and causing damage to the amount of RM25 or upwards.

In the other case, an aged farmer Balon Ak Giang was charged for criminal intimidation, that he had on 27.08.2012 verbally threatened to cause hurt to the oil palm estate manager Lee Beng Sing with the words “kamu jangan kerja sini kalau kamu kerja lagi saya bunuh tembak kamu” (You can’t work here and if you do that I will shoot and kill you).

The prosecuting officer informed the court that in both the cases of Donny Anak Mambu and Balon Ak Giang, though separately charged, were one single transaction and witnesses are the same. He applied for the 2 cases to be jointly tried.

All the accused pleaded not guilty and they were each released on RM5000 court bail with one surety each.

The presiding Magistrate Puan Portia Tham ordered the case against Village Headman Nyalu Anak Tampa, Sanjan Anak Ambol and Samad Anak Junna to be managed on 12 November and trial date is scheduled for 3 December 2012.

In the 2 cases involving Donny Anak Mambu and Balon Ak Giang, the Magistrate ordered for case management on 31 October 2012 and trial on 13 October 2012.

Lawyers Baru Bian, See Chee How and Desmond Kho, who appeared in the Serian Magistrate Court this morning, are representing the 5 native accused from Kampung Danau Melikin.

More than 150 other native villagers also crowded the Serian Magistrate Court to show their support for the 5 accused.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

File for secession then throw out all charges, throw out all colonialists, all non-locals and make your own country. Only the East Malaysian locals have rights to any East Malaysian land, and the federal ‘laws’ are written to take those lands especially offensively ancestral lands away! I’m sure the village elders will know who was around before East Malaysia was stolen with obviously illegal laws! BN or PR, also 3rd Force, return all stolen lands or expect secession!

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — Pandemonium broke in the Dewan Rakyat this morning when Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia announced a blanket ban on all motions filed by MPs to cut the salaries of ministers, a move traditionally used by lawmakers to push through a no-confidence vote.

Pandikar, when addressing the House, reasoned that he had conducted a detailed study on the matter and discovered that no other parliamentary democracies in the world debate such motions.

“The reason is because should this be allowed, it goes against the question of privilege,” he pointed out.

“Next, the justifications (for the motion), which in the past were always used, are justifications that have already been touched on during policy stage debates,” Pandikar (picture) added.

The Speaker acknowledged that such pay-cut motions under Standing Order 66(9) should not be used for such purposes as this would be tantamount to an abuse of the provision.

Standing Order 66(9) states: Any member may move an amendment to the schedule to reduce by RM……… the sum to be allotted for any head of expenditure in respect of any sub-head or item therein, but at least two clear days’ notice of such amendment shall be given.

“If I allow it, and it is debated, and accepted by the House, a question of law will be raised, which is the right of an individual to receive a salary, meaning the minister has a right to a salary; this cannot be taken by the House.

“When this is taken into consideration, I think it is inappropriate for us to prolong this precedent,” he said, to objections from several opposition parliamentarians.

When the MPs stood to object to his decision, the Speaker cited Standing Order 57(4) that allows him to reject any motion if he felt that the justifications given were “frivolous”.

Arguing, Pua told Pandikar that the motions had been rejected without allowing their applicants to state the justifications for filing them.

Teo also disagreed with the Speaker’s assertions, pointing out that she had not raised her justifications during policy stage debates earlier as she had meant to raise them when the motion was debated during committee stage.

In the past, such pay-cut motions were automatically allowed for debate during the committee stage.

At a press conference outside chambers later, the opposition MPs revealed that in Pandikar’s letter rejecting the motions, the Speaker had “created” three conditions, which he said was necessary if motions under Standing Order 66(9) were to be tabled in the future.

According to the letter distributed to the media here, Pandikar had said that such motions must clearly state the pay cut amount being sought, reasons for the cut, and detailed justifications for the reasons.

“The Speaker was contradicting himself… in the letter he tells us that we did not give justifications and we should do so under Standing Order 66(9) but then he used his power as Speaker to reject the motion on the grounds that the justifications given were ‘frivolous’,” Pua said.

Agreeing, Teo said the House should first move to amend the Standing Orders to include these three conditions, instead of allowing the Speaker to “abuse” his power by imposing them without allowing debate.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

. . . “If I allow it ” . . . If every other or even a minority number of MPs want to discuss this the Speaker cannot deny them the right. Time to vote for another Speaker? Voters really need to kick out BN . . . and at least drop 50% of DAP’s term limitless and nepotism corrupted ranks.

Parliament should consider censuring Minister Nazri Aziz for giving completely contradictory answers in parliament within the short interval of one week in respect of the contraband S$16 million cash seized in Hong Kong International Airport which both Nazri and Prime Minister Najib Razak denied that it was Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman’s money, claiming it was donation to Sabah Umno.

It should also consider rebuking Prime Minister Najib for having irresponsibly denied that the illegal attempt by Michael Chia Tien Foh to board the plane with the contraband cash was not an act of smuggling cash in breach of law, simply because Nazri has made some dubious statements in parliament.

On Oct 11, answering MP Chua Tian Chan, Nazri stated that the Attorney General (AG) had decided that corruption was not proven, based on the reports submitted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). Nazri further stated that, based on this outcome of MACC’s investigation, Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) did not take any further action.

However, answering MP Tan Kok Wai on Oct 11, Nazri said investigation carried out on the case was not done by MACC, but by Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which had subsequently stated that there was no corruption in this case.

One moment, it was MACC’s investigation that led to AG’s verdict of no corruption. But the next moment: no, it was not MACC, but ICAC which investigated and concluded that there was no corruption.

MULTIIPLE CONTRADICTIONS

The contradictions are puzzling.

Could it be that Nazri thought our AG and MACC’s credibility might not be good enough for Malaysians, and decided to attribute the findings to the world famous ICAC noted for its anti-corruption prowess, hoping to get better reception from Malaysians? Otherwise, how could he reconcile the two completely contradictory statements?

In fact, Nazri not only has problem reconciling these two different statements, but he also has problem reconciling both these statements against a MACC statement a few days earlier.

On Oct 5, MACC’s deputy chief commissioner (operations) Shukri Abdul said that investigation on the Hong Kong contraband cash case was still ongoing as its review panel requested for further investigation.

Apart from these multiple contradictions thrown by Nazri to parliament, his claim that ICAC has concluded that there is no corruption is also fishy.

This is evident from the fact that the S$16 million cash seized on 14th August 2008 was only released at the end of the statutory retention period limit of three years, when ICAC failed to wrap up the case due reportedly to Malaysian government’s refusal to extend co-operation in the investigation. If there was no case as claimed by Nazri and Najib, would the Hong Kong authorities have kept the money for the full legally allowable period of three years?

In fact, Michael Chia was arrested and investigated for both offences of money smuggling and money laundering.

NAJIB’S DENIAL IRRESPONSIBLE

Sneaking out the country with large amount of cash in breach of law is called smuggling money. I fail to see how Najib could claim it was not smuggling just because his minister Nazri has answered some questions in parliament – and badly answered at that, I must add.

Answering a question in a press conference on Oct 19 whether there was any basis to claims that the money was smuggled or laundered through Hong Kong, Najib answered curtly: “No. It has already been explained in parliament”. By that, Najib was of course referring to Nazri’s duplicitous answers abovementioned.

It is most unbecoming of the prime minister to base his answer to such a serious scandal on such a shady foundation.

Members of parliament should seek the following from Nazri in parliament, in addition to asking him to explain the many contradictions in his abovementioned statements:

1. Full disclose of the communications between the governments of Hong Kong and Malaysia on this issue; in particular a) whether ICAC has forwarded its findings to MACC including the money flow chart trailing the Sabah timber corruption money all the way to Musa Aman’s UBS AG account in Zurich, b) whether ICAC has requested for inter-country co-operation, c) whether ICAC has categorically stated that there was no corruption in the case and that it has ceased to pursue the case further.

2. When did MACC start its investigation, and whether it is still on-going. If so, why it has not been able to complete the task after such a lengthy investigation.

3. What role the AG has played in this case – in relation to the Hong Kong authorities and in relation to the Malaysian government, in particular, MACC.

Unless Nazri is forthcoming with satisfactory answers, he should be censured and referred to parliamentary select committee (privileges and power) for further probing.

Bruno Manser Fund says the probe into the RM40 million donation to Sabah Umno is ongoing.

KOTA KINABALU: A Swiss government investigation into the mystery donation of RM40 million to Sabah is still going on .

The Switzerland-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) said the case against UBS AG, a Swiss global financial services company operating out of Basel and Zurich, Switzerland, which is linked to the money, is continuing.

Lukas Straumann, director of BMF, confirmed that the investigation launched by the Swiss Attorney General is ongoing.

“It started on Aug 29 and is expected to take a couple of months at least until its conclusion,” he said in a message to his affiliates here.

The statement comes after the Dewan Rakyat was told on Oct 11 that the amount concerned that was seized by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) from a Sabah businessman at the Hong Kong International Airport in 2008 was a ‘political contribution’ to Sabah Umno by an unidentified donor.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz in a written reply to parliament on the outcome of the investigation into the affair denied that the seized amount was Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman’s money.

” From what we see, it is a very clear case of money-laundering. This is why the official investigation was opened in the first place.”

He added that BMF has applied to be admitted as a private plaintiff in order to gain access to the case files.

“This might be a unique chance to find out more on the business between UBS and Musa because Swiss banking secrecy will be lifted during the investigation.

“Our position in this application is much stronger if we are backed by people from Sabah. This is why we seek to get plaintiffs from among Sabahans,” Straumann said referring to the BMF offer published in local news portal and also in its letters.

It is understood that several Sabahans have consented to be plaintiffs in the case being pursued in Switzerland.

Musa, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s point man in Sabah and the state’s longest serving Chief Minister has found himself in centre-stage after Sabah timber tycoon, Michael Chia Tien Foh, the man caught red-handed with S$16 million (about RM40 million) in his bag was detained by the ICAC in 2008.

Chia had allegedly told the ICAC that the money was not his but the Sabah Chief Minister’s. Musa subsequently denied all knowledge of Chia despite claims by Sabah businessmen that the two were close associates.

Nazri, who is also de facto Law Minister, has unwittingly added further controversy to the affair by sweeping it aside as a simple matter.

No explanation was given why the large amount of cash was being hand carried by Chia rather than through a an inter-bank transaction or how the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had come to the conclusion it was a political donation for Sabah Umno after investigating the case for four years.

Musa in a statement at the last Sabah State Assembly sitting said that he was not afraid of any investigation over the RM40 million and that the money was not his but Umno’s.

His remarks came days after Najib said in Kuala Lumpur that MACC had completed its investigation and that the papers were then with the Attorney-General, Abdul Gani Patail who is related to Musa through marriage.

While Nazri has claimed that the powerful ICAC wrapped up its case (perhaps through a government-to-government arrangement), it is not known for now how the Hong Kong-based Chia can escape prosecution as it is illegal for anyone to bring or take out such a large some of cash without a permit.

Chia’s link to Musa, who is also in charge of Yayasan Sabah which holds in trust for Sabahans large tracts of timber concession areas, was exposed by Sarawak Report which published online, flow charts of the money transactions that connected them.ARTICLE 19

Whose money is Musa holding?’ – FMT Staff – July 3, 2012

Sabah Chief Minister Musa has claimed that a large part of his multi-million fortune held in foreign accounts is not privately owned by him.

Musa allegedly told Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers that the money in question traced to a bank in Zurich, Switzerland and under investigation by banking and criminal investigation agencies overseas was not his but Umno’s, said a senior PKR official.

PKR vice president Tian Chua who is also MP for Batu, said Najib must explain Musa’s alleged statement linking Umno and therefore the government to the hitherto secret party slush fund.

The money is part of a large sum being traced by international investigative reporters including of online media, Sarawak Report, who published details of transactions connecting Musa, Sabah businessman Michael Chia as well as many in Malaysian and Swiss banking in questionable financial deals crisscrossing several countries.

When Chia was caught with S$16 million cash in Hong Kong few years ago, he reportedly told the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) that the money belonged to Musa.

Musa however immediately denied knowing Chia and by inference anything about the money.

However pictures of them together and details of transactions including payments to Musa’s two sons in Australia were then exposed by the online media raising further questions about the matter.

This prompted more information being exposed by authorities in Zurich, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

According to Tian Chua, on June 15, PKR deputy secretary general Darell Leiking, parliamentarian Sivarasa Rasiah and he held a press conference in the Parliament House questioning the government’s inaction despite detailed information becoming public of a money laundering operation that has implicated Musa.

“On June 21, I received a reply from the prime minister on the status of the investigation of corruption allegations against Musa following the arrest of Michael Chia in Hong Kong.

“The answer from PM stated that MACC had provided full cooperation with Hong Kong ICAC and had completed the investigation. Presently the file is on the table of Attorney-General but so far no action has been taken,” he said.

Funds ‘held in trust’

Tian Chua said the case received new attention when NGO activist Prof Monika Roth filed a suit against Swiss UBS Bank linking the bank with the money laundering operations in Sabah.

However, once again, there was total silence from the Malaysian government, he said.

“A few days ago, I received a mysterious phone call from an unknown person who claimed that he was a staff member of MACC.

“He revealed that the MACC had initiated a new investigation on Musa where he was interviewed by several MACC officers on a date not told to me.

“Musa defended his actions and told the MACC officers to “check their facts with the prime minister.”

“Musa claimed that a large part of his multi-million fortune held in foreign currency accounts overseas was not privately owned by him.

“Instead it was held in trust on behalf of Umno. Now the public is eager to know whether this is true, and if the PM is aware of this.

“As the phone call was confidential and I had no means to verify the information, I hereby call upon the PM to step forward to clarify whether the MACC had initiated a new investigation on Musa.

“I also call on (Attorney-General) Abdul Gani Patail to step aside vis-a-vis the investigation related to Musa as it is clear that the AG is unable to convince the public of his impartiality,” said Tian Chua.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Why did Nazri say there were no arrests when the Hong Kong’s Anti-corruption police can corroborate that there were arrests? Is? Is Malaysian becoming a information blackout or media spin nation? Fortunately mass media is so proliferated now. What was buried in the past before the mass media and internet age? –

(Malaysian Digest) – PKR-linked NGO Jingga 13 has questioned a top politician over how a former maid has managed to afford a luxurious RM100,000 house in Indonesia.

Jingga 13 coordinator Fariz Musa, who submitted a memorandum to the office of the said politician yesterday, alleged that the maid could not have purchased the house based on her low income earned in Malaysia.

“If she (the maid) hadn’t spent a single cent from her (few) years’ salary, with a RM300 monthly salary for the first few years, increased to RM500 after that, we don’t think she could save even RM50,000.”

He claimed that the maid has remained unemployed since 2007, after her return to Indonesia,

When asked how the NGO obtained their information, Fariz said Jingga 13’s investigative team video-interviewed the maid in Indonesia in March 2012.

“Our accompanying Indonesian friends have told us that her house is estimated at RM100,000.”

“The photos that we took of it show that the fencing and furniture are specially-designed. We think they are not cheap.”

Pressed on whether the maid has informed the funding source of her new house, Fariz replied that the maid was afraid to speak “because of Malaysian official restrictions” and that her husband kept interrupting during the interview.

Fariz said he will refer the matter to the Indonesian embassy and subsequently lodge a report to police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Ahmad Abd Jalil is being investigated over allegedly seditious remarks he had made against the Johor Sultan on his Facebook page. – Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — The family members of Ahmad Abd Jalil, who was arrested on Friday for insulting the Johor Sultan, is pleading with the police not to permit the palace authorities to haul the youth to the royal house for an apology.

The family, responding to talks that Ahmad may be brought personally before the Sultan to apologise for his remarks, expressed fear today over the safety of the 27-year-old if he were to be taken to the palace.

According to an SMS from Ahmad’s sister to one of the family’s lawyer late last night, the police had told her mother that, “if the palace calls, they (the police) would be forced to bring Ahmad to face the Sultan”.

“If they want my son to apologise, bring him to court. Once he enters someone else’s territory, anything can happen and we wouldn’t know who to blame,” Ahmad’s father Abd Jalil Abd Rahman told The Malaysian Insider today.

“Everyone has to respect the due process of the law. And if they want to take my son to court to extract an apology, then so be it.

“Do not force him into palace custody where we have no control over. We are Penangites. We are not used to having a Sultan and we have heard many horror stories. This is our right,” he added.

The 60-year-old former government servant said the police have so far refused all attempts by his family to visit Ahmad, who was arrested in Kuala Lumpur at 8pm on Friday and transferred into the Johor police custody the same night.

As at noon today, Abd Jalil said he will be meeting with the investigating officer in Ahmad’s case.

“We hope to have a positive outcome from the meeting… I just want to see my son,” he said, adding that if it would look bad on the police if they were to forbid him from doing so.

In an SMS to The Malaysian Insider, Ahmad’s older brother agreed with his father in saying that the youth must be kept safely away from the palace compound.

“It is wrong to extract him from the balai/lokap to anywhere. We an apologise but thru proper procedures. Ahmad will apologise openly at court.

“Otherwise, we condone that the system is being used as ‘mode of ugutan (threat)’,” he said in the text message.

Ahmad is being investigated under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948, believed to be over allegedly seditious remarks he had made against the Johor Sultan on his Facebook page.

He was picked up from his office at around 8pm in Cheras yesterday by several plainclothes policemen before he was brought to the Wangsa Maju police station for questioning.

According to Ahmad’s lawyer Mohd Zakwan Adenan yesterday, the youth was at first not informed of his offence, except that he was allegedly being investigated under the Sedition Act 1948.

“They said they wanted to charge him under the Sedition Act for remarks he made on Facebook but when we asked the police which statement they were referring to, they could not answer,” he said.

Section 4(1) stipulates that any person who utters, prints or publishes any seditious words, on conviction, would be liable for a first offence to a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both.

After interrogating him for several hours at the Wangsa Maju police station yesterday, the police raided Ahmad’s parents’ house in Damansara Damai before taking the youth with them to Johor.

At 3pm yesterday, Ahmad was taken before a Johor magistrate by the police to obtain a three-day remand order.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

The reverse could be said of having the case in Penang and the more urban areas of Malaysia, where the animosity towards all Sultans (who due to tacit approval of Bumiputra Apartheid, contributes in substantial measure to this sort of disafffection, or in some uncommon cases monopoly like involvement in business sectors when the mere exalted position of Ruler should be quite enough to not feel inclined to compete with the citizens in government for evidently commercial projects – well maybe consultative roles for favourite related projects i.e. trains . . .) could be intentionally used to dismiss the case intentionally to make a salient point about apartheid (minorities) or absolutism (non-Royalist/anti-royalist Malays) rather than to administer justice which in this case, should be an equitable apology to the the measure of insult offered on the social networking site simply to show magnanimity rather than petty mindedness.

Malaysian judges and the legal system in Malaysia are not impartial, and always are politically motivated rather than professionalism or justice motivated, as much as the Bar Council does not address the lack of :

;for the Bar Council’s own political or financial (contract) based profit. I had written on the apartheid issue to every individual Sultan before and had no response whatsoever. Perhaps the letters were intercepted as so many other communications might have been. And due this, or simply crypto-racism, if not authoritarianism, I received no response on the matter whatsoever as any civil society might have and issues like the above continue to mar relations between the intended as symbolic rulers and and the masses. Stature and privilege should be enough to even ignore this sort of insult, the palace certainly has the resources to unofficially argue back without getting directly involved but from the looks of this sandiwara which might well have ulterior motives of sounding out the pop-ulace’s less well written to identify those against the palace, has chosen to get directly involved instead.

KUALA LUMPUR, — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was inspired by Germany’s past policy of limiting Jewish financial influence to help the Malays but it was later thwarted by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, former Cabinet minister Tan Sri Sanusi Junid said today.

Sanusi told a Malay economic forum that Dr Mahathir and former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin were hoping that Malays would control the economy but when they saw progress was slow, they decided to follow the German example of not granting banking licences to Jews.

But the plan failed when Anwar became finance minister and approved two banking licences to non-Malay banking groups — Alliance Bank and Hong Leong Bank.

“We thought that if we can’t control the economy, we would follow Germany,” Sanusi said at the Malay Economic Congress here. “In Germany banking licences are not given to the Jews.”

He said while pre-existing licences had been given to non-Malays, Daim made sure that all banks had Malay directors, which was important to ensure all banks had Malay influence.

Sanusi said that as a result there are now “two non-Malay banks without Malay influence.”

Malaysia’s banking system was formerly largely controlled by the Chinese but many were taken over by or forced to merge with government-controlled entities.

The loss of Chinese-founded banking institutions is widely perceived by the Chinese community as of one of the ways they have been discriminated against under the guise of helping the Bumiputera community.

The Umno-led Barisan Nasional government however had previously maintained that direct intervention was required to uplift the Bumiputeras and that mergers would help create stronger banks that could withstand globalisation.

The Najib administration has said however that it will gradually liberalise the financial sector and any banking mergers should now be based on market forces.

Sanusi also said at the forum that Malays were unable to accumulate wealth as while they earned money, it was ultimately spent in non-Malay businesses.

“Who is rich? We are? Where is the money? There is none. It goes through the channels of non-Malays. The money only passes through Malays and that’s why we are unable to accumulate,” he said.

The former Kedah mentri besar noted that normally political power is held by those who have economic power.

“But Malays have political power because they are smart,” he said.

–The Malaysian Insider

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Malays smart? No really overall – listen in to the translated debates and one will find all kinds of stupidity and also unstatemanlike behaviour and words . . . Maybe they make good thieves of conscience and destroyers of Human Rights worthy ideals and UN politically correct aspirations that are the mainstay of civilisation. The other reasons are because the Chinese don’t know if the army and police will be fair because the Chinese don’t know if the army and police will be fair in the event of a 2nd race riots and finally because MCA/MIC/Gerakan/PPP etc.. are not very brave in fighting apartheid as well is greedy and corrupt, is why the Malays have political power.

Asri described the battle over whether Malaysia is a secular or Islamic state as akin to a fight over “branding”. — File pic
SHAH ALAM, Oct 24 ? The debate over Malaysia’s Islamic nation status has been described as a “branding” quarrel by popular cleric Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, who said a secular nation that is fair is better than an Islamic country that exploits religion.

The Federal Constitution is Malaysia’s supreme law but minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said this week that the country was never declared a secular nation; he stopped short, however, of calling it an Islamic state as declared by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“You can name the country as an Islamic country but you exploit Islam, for what? You name the country secular but give the people rights; that is better. The most important (thing) is the values carried. People like to exploit brands.

“However, I am not interested in terms; I am more interested with the content of a country,” the former Perlis mufti told The Malaysian Insider after the 15th Sinar Harian Wacana titled “Ulama’s Role, Advising Leaders (Peranan Ulama, Menasihati Pemimpin)” at the Karangkraf Complex yesterday.

“I ask from PAS especially, don’t fight about branding. We have to think whether social justice can be carried out in a multiracial country,” he said, talking about the Islamist party that has accused Umno of using a secular constitution inherited from the British colonial masters.

Repeated accusations from PAS led then-prime minister Dr Mahathir to announce in 2001 that Malaysia is an Islamic state, in his bid to regain support from the Malay community who had voted for the opposition in the 1999 general election.

Mohd Asri, who resumed teaching in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) after leaving his post as Perlis mufti, agreed that Malaysia was an Islamic state rather than secular.

“The definition of Islamic state is when the country is controlled by Muslims and at least part of the Islamic laws (Syariah laws) are implemented; that is enough.

“The strongest proof that Malaysia is an Islamic state (is) when we Muslims in Malaysia demand for Islam (to be) strengthened in the country,” said the scholar who ironically was arrested by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) in 2009 for allegedly being linked with spreading puritanical Wahabi teachings from Islam’s birthplace, Saudi Arabia.

Then-JAIS director Datuk Mohammed Khusrin Munawi said Mohd Asri’s arrest was for lecturing without approval and not for any other offence.

But Dr Mohd Asri pointed out that being Islamic did not mean forcing non-Muslims to comply with religious laws and practises.

“We cannot demand the non-Muslim to pray, we have to recognise he’s a Muslim first, then only we ask him to fast.

“When we ask our country to practise Islam, that means we recognise that it is basically Islamic,” he said.

Dr Mahathir claimed yesterday that Malaysia is “by definition” a Muslim country since it is acknowledged as such by the Muslim world.

“We don’t care about what these people say in order to make it a political issue,” he added, referring to the ongoing debate about whether Malaysia is a secular state.

The former PM also expressed his disappointment that the hudud issue was being politicised by those who are pushing for its implementation.

“(This kind of) hudud, which is used for politics, is not exactly hudud,” he stressed. “It is hudud used to give victory over one side.

“Pity the Muslim. If he steals, his hand will be chopped off. But his (non-Muslim) friend who steals together with him will only get two months in jail. Is that fair? That is not Islam.”

On Monday, Nazri said in Parliament that Malaysia was never declared or endorsed as a secular state, saying that the word “secular” was not found in the Federal Constitution.

Dr Mohd Asri said the issue of naming Malaysia as a secular or Islamic country frequently became polemic as general elections draw near.

“But we have to know countries don’t enter heaven or hell, (the ones) that enter heaven or hell are humans. So we have to correct not just the branding of the country only but what we have to correct is the contents of the country.

“A sign that a country is Islamic (is) when it truly fulfils the responsibilities of its rule to the rakyat.

“Leaders carry out their responsibilities, the people carry out their responsibilities. Where there’s justice, God’s syariat is there. No matter what you name the country.”

The debate over the country’s status continues as the 13th general election draw near, with the Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s mandate ending by April next year.

In Election 2008, BN lost its traditional two-thirds majority and the five states of Selangor, Perak, Pulau Pinang, Kedah dan Kelantan to federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR), a pact composed of PKR, DAP dan PAS.

Perak has since fallen back into BN’s fold after the defection of several lawmakers from PR.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

The only spot of good news [except the ‘an’] in quite some while. Does Dr.Mohd Asri believe in :

If so, make clear your intent Dr.Asri, if Najib is mentally incapable of doing at least this despite all the power and mandate and respect, how about Asri make an attempt for the betterment of humanity (and becoming a future moderate face of Islam and also a secular PM who understands that non-muslims have a right to their entertainments) raising the stature of Malays, granting Malays who do not want Islam equality, or Malays who do not need Apartheid and would speak for their minority friends and fellow citizens, by endorsing the above 3 items with intent to grant and getting as many less than 2 term MPs as possible to sign on under penalty of vacating the political seat? HONESTY please, not subversion or faux conversions of critics of Islam which will make islam into a petty and insane cult rather than a bona fide religion.

ARTICLE 25

The Feds are Dangerous to the Rights of Minorities – by Mike Maharrey

Jose owns a little market on a big-city street corner. Business is pretty good, but he has a problem with neighborhood thugs coming in – shoplifting, harassing customers and basically making a nuisance of themselves. Jose deals with them as best he can, shooing off troublemakers with a little intimidation of his own manufactured by Louisville Slugger. Every once in a while he calls the cops.

Business continues to grow.

Then one day, Bruno walks into the store. Bruno serves as muscle for the largest gang in the city. He suggests that his syndicate can provide “protection” for a nominal fee. Bruno strongly suggests Jose accept the generous offer.

Of course, Jose ponies up the cash. Sure enough, the neighborhood thugs disappear. No more petty theft. No more loitering. No more customer harassment. But every so often, Bruno makes a visit. Jose knows that a visit from Bruno means the cost of protection is about to rise. On top of that, Bruno’s associates eventually begin dropping in frequently at the store. They help themselves to merchandise, intimidate customers and basically create a nuisance.

But unlike the neighborhood thugs who used to cause problems, Jose can’t merely shoo Bruno’s people away with a baseball bat. He tried it once. They quickly reminded him that they work for Bruno. Bruno runs the neighborhood for the syndicate. Jose can’t even call the cops. They won’t come. Bruno’s boss has them under his thumb. Jose knows he stands powerless to halt the mischief.

While it caused some difficulties and cost him a little money, Jose was able to deal with the unorganized neighborhood thugs that used to hassle him. But he finds he had no control whatsoever over Bruno and his clan.

During a recent discussion about devolving power back to the states and constraining the federal government in its constitutionally prescribed role, a big-government proponent argued that we must maintain a strong hand in Washington D.C. to protect minorities.

“The states have proved they can’t be trusted to protect the rights of the people, especially minorities,” he quipped.

This narrative has dominated American politics since the 1950s. Southern governors and legislators appealed to the idea of “states’ rights” to perpetuate segregation. Mention state sovereignty and proponents of a strong federal government will quickly call up images of Birmingham police officers firing water cannons at black people, and remind us that Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus ordered National Guard troops to block the entrance of Little Rock Central High School in order to keep nine African-American students out. Most Americans consider the victories in the Civil Rights battles of the 50s and 60s shining examples the successful application of federal power.

In fact, brave heroes such as Rosa Parks, and countless nameless folks who simply refused to submit any longer, ultimately won the victory. But the federal government did play a role and helped break down an evil system of segregation in the South.

But as we say in Kentucky, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and again.

In fact, the indignities of segregation pale in comparison with some of the evils perpetrated by the feds.

The reasoning goes something like this: certain state governments proved they will oppress minorities in the middle of the 20th Century; therefore we need a bigger, more powerful central government to force the states not to oppress minorities today.

But it wasn’t the state governments that rounded up more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans and locked them up behind barbed wire during WWII.

It wasn’t the state governments that studied the unchecked progression of syphilis in poor black sharecroppers in Tuskegee, Ala. Federal officials told the subjects of these studies that they were receiving free government health care. They never told them that they had syphilis, nor did doctors ever treat them for the disease. The victims were told their treatments were for “bad blood.”

And it wasn’t the state governments that sprayed low-income residents in St. Louis with toxic, radioactive particles.

Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor recently uncovered documents revealing that the feds blew a fine powder made of zinc cadmium sulfide into the air over poor neighborhoods. Cadmium was even then a known toxin, although federal officials claimed in the 1990s that the residents were not subjected to dangerous levels.

But Martino-Taylor says she also found indirect evidence that the powder was laced with a fluorescent additive – a suspected radiological compound.

“There are strong lines of evidence that there was a radiological component to the St. Louis study,” she said.

In fact, in 1993 a congressional study confirmed conducting radiological testing occurred in Tennessee and some western states.

The professor of sociology at St. Louis Community College said documents reveal the spraying occurred during two separate periods between 1953 and 1954 and again from 1963 to 1965. The aerosol was sprayed from blowers installed on rooftops and mounted on vehicles as part of a biological weapons testing program.

”The powder was milled to a very, very fine particulate level. This stuff traveled for up to 40 miles. So really all of the city of St. Louis was ultimately inundated by the stuff,” Martino-Taylor told CBS St. Louis.

The government planted news stories to cover up the nature of the spray.

“There was a reason this was kept secret. They knew that the people of St. Louis would not tolerate it,” Martino-Taylor said. “And they told local officials and media that they were going to test clouds under which to hide the city in the event of aerial attack.”

The areas sprayed were predominately black. Army documents called it “a densely populated slum district.” This during the same time-period that the feds were “fighting for minorities” in the South.

Evidence points to higher than normal incidences of cancer in residents who lived in the area at that time, although after all these years, researchers admit it’s difficult to gather conclusive evidence.

Here’s a question for you. Why do we never hear the Tuskegee experiments, or Japanese internment, or feds spraying poor people in St. Louis invoked as a reason to distrust and limit federal power in the same way big government apologists use the Civil Rights era as a rational for growing the federal government and limiting the power of the states?

Fact: governments do bad things. All of them. Local governments. State governments. National governments. The question becomes, how can “we the people” best control them? The answer: limit their power and break them into as many competing jurisdictions as possible.

Americans instinctively distrust economic monopoly. They assume that if one company corners the market on a given product or service, the monopolist will screw the consumer. It will raise prices, limit service and pretty much run roughshod over the customer. After all; no competition exists to hold it in check.

Probably a pretty rational fear.

Then why do Americans so readily embrace a political monopoly centered in Washington D.C.?

Seems to me they’re trading the neighborhood thugs for Bruno.

Michael Maharrey [send him email] is the Communications Director for the Tenth Amendment Center. He proudly resides in the original home of the Principles of ’98 – Kentucky. See his blog archive here and his article archive here. He also maintains the blog, Tenther Gleanings.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

So think minority Malaysians, what the Lynas Radioactive material processing will give ‘Muslims’ and racists in BN supported by minority lapdogs access to. As of now cyanide particles appear to have affected majority Chinese areas

in Raub the cyanide particle issue is already very serious, they may target Kuantan with radioactive part

in Raub the cyanide particle issue is already very serious, the may target Kuantan with radioactive particles next, and who knows, the worst among the racists would access these radioactive particles and poison water sources in local water treatment in all plants where there are minorities elsewhere? If this does not help the voters’ idiotic minorities to vote properly and keep supporting minority lapdogs, the threat of a destroyed and very much sickened next generation seems very likely. Pakatan as well should be watched very carefully for those that do not want to make clear on :

The following women are not attractive to Donald Trump: Angelina Jolie (“She’s been with so many guys”), Cher (“bad plastic surgery”), Rosie O’Donnell (“big, fat pig”), and now, Arianna Huffington.

On Wednesday, Trump used his Twitter account to call the internet powerhouse “unattractive both inside and out.” He went on to attack her marriage, which ended in an amicable divorce.

“I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man-he made a good decision,” Trump added in less than 140 characters.

It’s not the first time he’s publicly judged a successful female media figure by her looks and intimate life, and it probably won’t be the last.

Trump’s world seems to be divided into three categories. Women he finds attractive. Women he doesn’t find attractive. And Men. It’s not so different from a Miss USA pageant, only “contestants” like Huffington don’t ask to be entered.

Huffington smartly refused to take the bait and refrained from responding, possibly avoiding another drawn out Trump vs. Barbara Walters feud.

In the past, both male and female columnists at major media outlets have labeled Trump “a sexist dinosaur,” with “a legacy of unapologetically gleeful misogyny.” These days nobody’s wasting words trying to prove that point, when Trump seems to do the job all on his own. Here are some of the

gems from the mouth of a modern day caveman:

“All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me – consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.”
-From his book How to Get Rich.

“So when he had plenty of money, she liked him…But then after that, not as good, right?”
-In response to an Access Hollywood interview question on Anne Hathaway’s split from her jailed ex-boyfriend.

“I’ll send one of my friends to pick up her girlfriend and I think it would be very easy.”
-On Rosie O’Donnell and his own mysteriously beguiling friends, as reported by The New York Daily News.

“She does have a very nice figure . . . if [she] weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
-On his daughter, Ivanka, during a interview on the The View.

“You look very good, Aubrey, I have to say, Do you mind if I say? Is that sexist?”
-On Aubrey O’Day’s boardroom appearance during an episode of The Apprentice.

“The early victories by women on The Apprentice were to a very large extent dependent on their sex appeal.”
-On women’s success on The Apprentice, from How to Get Rich.

“I believe we’re all equal except women still have to try harder and they know it. They will do what they have to do to get the job done and will not necessarily be demure about it.”
-More on women’s success, from How to Get Rich.

“Oftentimes when I was sleeping with one of the top women in the world I would say to myself, thinking about me as a boy from Queens, ‘can you believe what I am getting?'”
-On former romantic partners, from Think Big: Make it Happen in Business and Life.

“Beauty and elegance, whether in a woman, a building, or a work of art is not just superficial or something pretty to see.”
-On inanimate objects and women, from Trump 101: The Way to Success

“You know, it doesn’t really matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of [expletive].”
-On media zen and women’s body parts, from a 1991 Esquire interview.

Any ‘unapologetically gleeful misogyny’ is only for and usable by alpha males. Even wealthy betas like Bill Gates do not, or dare not use ‘unapologetically gleeful misogyny’. And due to socialised pressure, the alpha male is an increasingly rare species these days.

Good role model for those able to fathom this guy or where this guy is coming from but physicality wise, doubtful could take on Putin (more Trump is more Alpha Slick than Alpha Hardman, even as some of us are only mindset based Alpha Minor . . . ), though mindset wise probably on same standing. Both of these guys though lack beards (Alpha Major) . . . in any case, the real alpha males should set up the last international Gentlemen’s Club before the whole Alpha-male type/meme disappears . . . Club Alpha or Alpha Club, for “Playboy/Hustler/Penthouse/Miss World loving”, full bearded, hairy (thanks JB or was that DM . . . ), lantern jawed, bald from too much testosterone (not anything else though), Hells Angel type club joining, Car Modding, gladiatorial game playing, bull riding/fighting, male f—ing (females too delicate, would break . . . try this for hyper masculinity lol!), 2nd amendment loving, alcohol swilling, organic drug taking males only.

The rest of the slack jawed f@99ot, PC, metrosexual types are for alpha females unable to find alpha males (betas females are best for beta males if a Matriarchy is not intended . . . ), OR alpha females socially twisted into ‘Lordosis’ ‘male bashing’ or accidental same-sex (socialised m2m or f2f are incidental not genetic, so differentiate to avoid much grief and regret later on) type behaviour. So would alpha females serious enough get that lab to grow a penis and a pair (set of testicles) with. But don’t go around subverting already estrogenized metro-males who are no challenge even as no females could ever be larger than the largest male or more ethical than the most ‘testosteronized’ males . . .

“She’s been with so many guys (of Angelina Jolie)” . . . never really looked at this from that angle. Thanks Trump! It’s informed now! Now how about running for Governor or even President to change some laws for the 99%? Back to the Future 2 (Robert Zemeckis 1989) cannot occur without Trump on the scene! ‘Biff” (Thomas F. Wilson)’s an Alpha!

Todd Akin and the Second Sex – Posted by Judith Thurman – August 27, 2012

Naw, just demogoguery, Todd wouldn’t rape a fly . . . or was that the other way around . . . ugh . . . anyway too many GOPs should be dropped for term limitlessness if not crony capitalism . . .

Simone de Beauvoir’s foundational treatise on gender inequality, “The Second Sex,” was published in France in 1949, a year after the author—a thirty-eight-year-old public intellectual—was allowed to vote for the first time. French women, so belatedly enfranchised, would not have access to legal birth control until 1967, or to legal first-trimester abortions until 1975.

In 1971, Beauvoir took the lead in her countrywomen’s struggle for reproductive rights. She wrote a declaration, “The Manifesto of 343,” that exposed her and her fellow-signers—some of France’s leading female artists, actors, writers, jurists, and filmmakers—to criminal prosecution. (It also exposed them to degrading ridicule of a now-familiar sort. Forty years before Rush Limbaugh aired his repulsive fantasies about Sandra Fluke, the declaration was nicknamed “The Manifesto of the 343 Sluts.”)

“One million women in France have an abortion every year,” Beauvoir’s declaration began. “Condemned to secrecy, they have them in dangerous conditions…. These women are veiled in silence. I declare that I am one of them. I have had an abortion.”

Not all of the women who signed Beauvoir’s manifesto had actually had an abortion. Some of them, like Violette Leduc, the lesbian writer, may never have had sex with a man. The point was to stand together on behalf of the “veiled.” And in 1971, I was one of the veiled. I was a single woman just out of college, far from home, living marginally, without a partner, who found herself pregnant.

It is sometimes hard to remember that abortion has not been a crime in the United States since Roe v. Wade was decided, in 1973. If politicians like Todd Akin and Paul Ryan prevail, it will be a crime again, under all circumstances, along with some forms of contraception that can spare women from a hard choice that they have to live with, one way or another, for the rest of their lives.

Akin disgraced himself as a benighted zealot by blathering about “legitimate rape,” but it’s a mistake, I think, to focus one’s outrage on the trauma of rape and incest victims, on teen-age girls of severely limited mental capacity who are conned by predators, or on patients who have been told by their physicians that a full-term pregnancy may kill them. Forcing such women to bear a child violates their integrity in a barbaric fashion—it rapes them twice.

But most women who seek abortions do not fall into those categories. They are our neighbors, daughters, sisters, granddaughters, and colleagues. They come in every size and color. They are rich and poor. They are Republicans and Democrats. They are churchgoers and atheists. They are married, single, and divorced. Some ardently want a family—when the time is right. Some of them have children already. But they have this in common: at some point between the onset of puberty and the end of menopause—and one neither wants nor needs to know the circumstances, it is none of our business—they had a sexual encounter that resulted in an accidental conception, and they couldn’t go through with it.

Here is where the Akin uproar leads us to perilous ground. “Legitimate rape” (or “forcible rape,” as the Congressman put it in his apology for having “misspoke”) is a coded expression that everyone in its target audience understands. It conjures the image of a Victorian maiden ravished by a villain in a cloak and a top hat, twirling his mustache as she flails on the railroad tracks (hey writer you forgot the Mr.Peanut brand type Monocle . . . ) . It implies that there are “legitimate” victims—and only certifiably “pure” women fall into that category. Everyone else had it coming.

“The Second Sex” is an exhaustive study of the ways that misogyny has, from time immemorial, been disguised as righteousness. Todd Akin and Paul Ryan want to write a new chapter to the story. If you are saved, you need not fear their policies. If you are fallen, you will pay the price. They would lower the veil of shame and silence on a new generation. But if we let this become a debate about female virtue, rather than about female self-determination, we have lost it.

One generation ahead of ya Todd . . .

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Todd does not speak the language of ‘occultism’ and nor do those attacking Todd. The *body* and the *spirit* are different ‘people’. A rapist rapes ONLY when the spirit in the woman allows or calls to the spirit in the man (this is how Burkha clad women who cannot even be seen are even raped to begin with), OR the spirit of the rapist is not in control. Todd Akin is not to be blamed for the clumsy language use, ‘Legitimate’ means Spirit to Spirit, nothing else . . . this is not a commonly broached subject in society where spirit and brain are seperate leading to all kinds of abuses in the name of ‘mental health’ to enable the culling from society people aware of the differences between spirit and brain (the feminazis, demogogues and psychiatric establishment, also henpecked male politicians, collude on this one to take out as many right minded people as possible . . . this comes from experience . . . ). But needs to take up some language and ‘spirit of language’ courses. The viciousness directed against Todd though is inequitable. Todd dropping semi-wonky language from lack of training means nothing about character and ONLY the same could be done back to Todd. Not threats of AIDS infected rape or drowning.

Todd Akin most probably does not have interest in raping anyone (even if Todd does, he’d have too much to lose by doing so, makes no sense), we also do know that to even become a Congressman, the discipline needs to be there, especially for 2 terms limited types not drunk with power for decades. As for mysogyny factor, so long as there is no intent to hurt anyone, and if all persons subject to mysogyny are consensual, no issue. Please don’t threaten Congressmen with AIDS rapes or drownings- might be actionable. Todd Akin may have described the above clumsily and look like Kurtwood Smith who played Clarence J. Boddicker in Robocop 1 (1987 Paul Verhoeven), but that does not mean Todd should be subject to this sort of abuse.

Perhaps those threatening Todd need to get their heads checked instead . . . I do however suggest that since Todd has been in ‘power’ for more than 2 terms, that Todd relinquish that seat anyway for someone that Todd could endorse that is similarly minded. Oligarchic term limitlessness destroys democracy, and Todd looks like part of the problem of technicalities in ethics for bettering democracy rather than the solution or being an exemplar. Careerist politicians are a sad relic of the past. Todd voted well on several bills but has not forwarded any useful bills or at even bills to redistribute land to the poor or come up with anything useful for all those stints in taxpayer paid for posts.

Todd voted for carrying concealed weapons GOOD (2nd Amendment is always good, the bigger the weapon the better . . . )
Todd voted against the parks and soils sales tax GOOD (The Iraq war is not over, the last thing USA needs is Crony Capitalism gardening companies bleeding tax payers)
Todd voted against the 1993 tax increase and education spending increase GOOD (Prevented Crony Capitalism)
Todd sponsored legislation to prohibit casino companies from contributing to Missouri state lawmakers. GOOD (Ethical)

Todd is anti-abortion rights, BAD (Authoritarian, the state does not control women’s bodies . . . but spiritual issue of partially formed life is very serious – perhaps could be dealt with via formulation between various faiths the best way to safely ensure partly formed ‘Foetids’ are able to ‘re-enter’ the circle of life properly)

How about redistribution of un-used state land to the homeless or poor due for foreclosures? A semi-thoughtful man who did not delve deep enough into the above before speaking . . .

ARTICLE 3

Man on trial for paedophilia to use ‘my brain made me do it’ defence – August 29, 2012

Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was sane when he killed 77 people last year. — Reuters pic
LONDON, Aug 29 — He was once a respected paediatrician, loved by patients and their parents for over 30 years. Now Domenico Mattiello faces trial for paedophilia, accused of making sexual advances towards little girls in his care.

Scientific experts will argue in court that his damaged brain made him do it, and his lawyers will ask for leniency.

It’s the latest example of how neuroscience — the science of the brain and how it works — is taking the stand and beginning to challenge society’s notions of crime and punishment.

The issue has been thrown into the spotlight by new technologies, like structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) scans and DNA analysis that can help pinpoint the biological basis of mental disorders.

A series of recent studies has established that psychopathic rapists and murderers have distinct brain structures that show up when their heads are scanned using MRI.

And in the United States, two companies, one called No Lie MRI and another called Cephos Corp, are advertising lie-detection services using fMRI to lawyers and prosecutors.

Crime and punishment

While structural MRI scans show the structure of a brain and can highlight differences between one brain and another, PET and fMRI scans can also show the brain in action, lighting up at particular points when the brain engages in certain tasks.

But the dazzling new technologies and detailed genetic data leave unanswered the issue of whether criminal courts are the right place to use this new information.

“The worry is that the law, or at least some judges, might be so overawed by the technology that they start essentially delegating the decision about guilt to a particular form of test,” says Colin Blakemore, a professor of neuroscience at Oxford University.

The lawyers for American serial killer Brian Dugan, who was facing execution in Illinois after pleading guilty to raping and killing a 10-year-old girl, used scans of his brain activity to argue he had mental malfunctions and should be spared the death penalty. In the event, Illinois abolished capital

punishment while he was on death row.

In a court in the Indian city of Mumbai, a woman was convicted of murder based only on circumstantial evidence and a so-called brain electrical oscillations signature profiling (BEOS) test, the results of which prosecutors said suggested she was guilty.

The days when mental capacity for crime is argued over by psychiatrists unaided by sophisticated machinery — such as Friday’s verdict that Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was sane when he killed 77 people — look numbered.

“All sorts of types of neuroscience evidence are being used for all sorts of types of claims,” says Teneille Brown, a professor of law at the University of Utah. “The question is, is this technology really ready for prime time, or is it being abused?”

“Acquired paedophilia”

In Mattiello’s case, the neuroscientific evidence will come in the form of a full psychiatric and biological analysis including an MRI brain scan that shows a roughly 4-centimetre tumour growing at the base of his brain.

This created pressure inside his skull and “altered his behaviour”, says Pietro Pietrini, a molecular geneticist and psychiatrist at Italy’s University of Pisa who is compiling an expert report on the 65-year-old.

“His previous behaviour was completely normal,” Pietrini told Reuters. “He was a paediatrician for 30 something years and he saw tens of thousands of children and never had any problem. The question is why, at some point, did someone who has always behaved properly suddenly change so drastically?”

The doctor was arrested in Vicenza, northern Italy, more than a year ago and is undergoing cancer treatment after having the tumour removed. Pietrini is due to see him again next month to continue his assessment and see the effects of the treatment.

The case, which has yet go to court, is strikingly similar to another of “acquired paedophilia” dating back to 2002, in which a 40-year-old married American schoolteacher suddenly became obsessed with sex and began secretly to collect child pornography.

He was eventually removed from the family home for making sexual advances towards his stepdaughter and convicted of paedophilia. But later medical examinations found he had an egg-sized tumour in a part of the brain involved in decision-making.

When the tumour was removed, the man recovered from his paedophilic tendencies and was able to return to his family.

Experts are generally agreed that conditions like psychopathy and paedophilia can’t be “cured”, but in this groundbreaking case it appeared that removing the tumour, and hence the pressure in the brain, may have re-established his ability to control impulses.

As in that case, Pietrini said he and colleague Giuseppe Sartori of Padua University believed Mattiello’s tumour “may well have played a role in altering his behaviour”.

“This is what we will be arguing,” Pietrini said. “But of course it will be for the judge to determine to what extent he believes this medical condition played a role.”

Oxford’s Blakemore, one of the world’s leading thinkers in this field, says such cases are “startling”.

“It makes one wonder about the notion of responsibility,” he said in an interview.

Is “my brain made me do it” a defence?

And when it comes to prison, should paedophiles, psychopaths and other violent criminals be punished less severely if their behaviour can be blamed on biology? Is “my brain made me do it” a defence that warrants recognition with lighter sentences, or even no jail time at all?

“(It) raises the whole issue of what you think sentencing is for,” says Blakemore. “Is it about punishment? Is it about retribution? Is it about remediation and rehabilitation? Is it about protecting society? Well, to some extent it’s about all of those things.”

Recent evidence — from both real and hypothetical cases — suggests judges are sympathetic to neurobiological evidence as mitigation.

A study published in the journal Science this month showed that criminal psychopaths in the United States whose lawyers provide biological evidence for their brain condition are more likely to be sentenced to shorter jail terms than those who are simply said to be psychopaths.

For the study, researchers at the University of Utah tweaked the real-life case of Stephen Mobley, a 39-year-old American who was sentenced to death in 1994 after robbing a Domino’s pizza place in Georgia and shooting dead the restaurant’s manager.

At his trial, Mobley’s lawyer presented evidence in mitigation showing the accused had a variant of a gene called MAO-A that has been dubbed the “warrior” gene after scientists found it was linked to violent behaviour.

Aggressive genes

In the Science study, judges were given a hypothetical case loosely based on Mobley’s, where the crime was a savage beating with a gun, rather than a fatal shooting.

All the judges were told the defendant was a psychopath, but only half were given expert testimony on the genetic and neurobiological causes of his psychopathy. Those who got the neuroscientific evidence were more likely to give a shorter sentence – generally about a year less, the study found.

Pietrini worked on a similar real-life case in Italy in 2009 — thought to be one of the first criminal cases in Europe to use this type of neuroscientific evidence.

It involved Abdelmalek Bayout, an Algerian living in Italy, who was tried and convicted for fatally stabbing a man who teased him in the street.

After conducting a series of tests on the Algerian, Pietrini and colleagues said they had found abnormalities in imaging scans of his brain, and in five genes that have been linked to violent behaviour — including MAO-A.

A 2002 study led by researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London linked low levels of MAO-A with aggressiveness and criminal behaviour in boys who were raised in abusive environments.

Bayout’s lawyers got his sentence reduced by arguing that this and other bad genes had affected his brain and were partly to blame for the attack.

Where will it end?

Experts say it’s almost inevitable that neuroscience and law will become yet more intertwined. After all, while neuroscience seeks to find out how the brain functions and affects behaviour, the law’s main concern is with regulating behaviour.

Yet many are uneasy about the use in courts of law — and in matters of life and death — of basic science that is only just creeping out of the lab.

Observers such as Hank Greely, a professor of law at Stanford University, point out that no scientific peer-reviewed studies have been published demonstrating that BEOS — the brain test used in the Mumbai case — actually works.

Others stress that while genes like MAO-A have been associated with violence, there are also plenty of people with similar genotypes who don’t go out and kill, rape or abuse.

“Neuroscience is being used by serious scientists in real labs, but the people trying to apply it in courts are not those same people,” says Utah’s Brown. “So they’re taking something that looks very objective, that looks like gold standard science, but then morphing it into a forensic use it wasn’t developed for.

Seena Fazel, a clinical senior lecturer in forensic psychiatry at Oxford University, says he’s uncomfortable with the long-term implications and wonders where it will end.

There are already known biological bases for many brain disorders criminals suffer from, including drug addiction, alcoholism and antisocial personality disorder, which is thought to affect up to half of all those in prison.

“If psychopathy reduces your sentence because it has a biological basis, why shouldn’t these other more common conditions also result in reduced sentences? The problem here is where do we draw the line?” — Reuters

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

One’s spirit can only do so much healing before, calling quits. The physical brain may not have been aware and continuing such work created the tumour from the spirit’s dissatisfaction. In response, the paediatrician began TAKING back for the spirit by predating the children instead. One can only want to do so much healing. The capacity of the spirit may be boundless to the point of earthquakes and tornadoes, but a spirit who healed perhaps the 1000th or even 100th child decided to retire, and the physical man with the physical brain continued at the spirit’s expense which led to a tumor that specifically caused paedophelia or other harmful behaviour. Perhaps many bankers and politicians, even priests of large orders need to retire once a number of years have passed or a number of years of work have been offered, monetary renumeration is not what the spirit wants, the brain does not understand, but the spirit will make it’s will known in any number of ways like ailments.

ARTICLE 4

We’re more comfortable with sex on TV…but should we plug the filth flood before it’s too late? – by Andy Dawson – Wednesday, 29 August 2012 at 2:26 pm

We’re more comfortable with sex on TV…but should we plug the filth flood before it’s too late?As a 1980s teenager, finally deemed old enough to be allowed to stay up late and watch TV with my parents, it was the moment I feared the most – THE SEX BIT. On the screen that is, not in the living room. For both myself and my parents, short-term mortification was guaranteed every single time.

Of course, as this was almost thirty years ago, so when I say THE SEX BIT I’m referring to nothing more sizzlicious than the sight of a woman in her underwear, an extended bout of what Britain’s swimming pool law-enforcers call ‘heavy petting’, or if I was lucky/unlucky enough, actual female toplessness.

See even today, I’m still struggling to grasp for the correct terminology while maintaining my composure. But I have to confess that it isn’t working – my hands are becoming clammy and my brow fevered as I poke the words ‘female toplessness’ out on my sweat-drenched keyboard.

Back then, during one of those infrequent but time-stopping sexy TV flashpoints, if someone were to run in to the living room and conduct a straw poll as to whether there was too much sex on TV, the outcome would be a resounding 100% affirmative vote.

Mind you, if someone were to run in to the living room and steal our eyeballs from right out of the front of our heads, there would be very little dissent. We were all too busy trying to pretend that what we were witnessing wasn’t happening, while straining to stem the crimson tide of embarrassment that was flooding our faces.

But it’s 2012 now and attitudes are changing – Britain is loose and groovy now. A recent Ofcom poll found that just 25% of adults are unhappy with the amount of sex on the small-screen, a figure that is down from 36% in 2005. Perhaps some of them are unhappy because they’re not seeing enough sex, who knows. The fact that only 19% were offended by something they’d seen over the past 12 months suggests that might well be the case.

So what’s happening to us all? Are we in the midst of a new 21st century permissive society? Is the sight of televised rutting now as normal to us as that of Jeremy Kyle haranguing an absent, glue-addled dad?

If many of us are indeed more comfortable with the sight of what the French commonly call ‘the flesh fandango’, perhaps broadcasters will bend to our will and tailor more of their post-watershed programmes to our increased thirst for boot-knocking.

For years now, knuckle-dragging observers have yearned for the first televised full-blown sexual encounter in the Big Brother house. Perhaps it already happened – I genuinely couldn’t care less. But surely it’s time for the BBC to steal the march and give us the first ever full-blown sex scene in Eastenders, preferably in the Queen Vic, during a lock in. As for what form it takes, I don’t care as long as Jean Slater is involved (I have niche tastes, shush, mind your own business).

Surely it’s time for David Attenborough to stop traversing the globe and obsessing over the mating habits of boring old animals and secrete himself away in a wardrobe in a Surrey semi instead, fastidiously commentating on the passionate wranglings of a middle-aged middle manager and his partner of choice. As for the potential that is inherent in a new-look, post-sexy-revolution Strictly Come Dancing – well, the mind boggles. Oh, my hands are getting clammy again.

But telly sex isn’t for everyone and there would need to be a two-tier system with a quick and easy opt out available. Fair warning should be given ahead of any graphic sex scene and a simple push of the red button would switch to an alternative broadcast, with all of the rude bits covered by an animation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien monotonously braying the words ‘this is not actually happening’.

Is it what we really want though? Before long we’ll be living in a new era of wall-to-wall filth and we won’t even know how it happened. We’re almost certainly just a few years away from a time where the major source of living room awkwardness is when dad realises that the TV remote is wedged firmly beneath the writhing bodies of his 19-year-old daughter and her boyfriend.

Be careful what you wish for.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Dawson is looking at this in a wrong manner. There could be ‘stiff’ channels for the upper classes, ‘semi-stiff’ for the middle classes, and ‘groovy’ channels for the lower classes. The viewership records merely show where society is headed. In a poorer lower class majority society, people will be ‘playing’ at home or at the cheaper part of the RLD mainly to relax, in a middle majority society people will be playing outside in non-RLD venues to sorta exercise, in a wealthy society people will be playing at the upper class venues to challenge themselves. No need to worry, rather look at the macro economic issues. I think Dawson isn’t really familiar with all groups? All facets of society should not be put under a microscope like this. Hands clammy? Well sound like Dawson is under stress and depending on Dawson’s wealth level, time to head to the RLD or the middle level venues if not too stressed . . .

We’re more comfortable with sex on TV…but should we plug the filth flood before it’s too late? – There is no filth flood, Dawson has been looking at the wrong channel too long IMHO.

Several women were sexually assaulted on Thursday during festivities to mark a local water festival in the island province of Hainan, according to eyewitnesses.

Around 8:30 am, several men tried to touch some women’s breasts, tearing their clothes during celebrations in Qixian Square, Baoting Li and Miao autonomous county, a website run by Xinhua News Agency reported.

Li Min, a tourist from Wanning in Hainan who has participated in the festival for the past five years, told China Daily that four or five women were assaulted after an opening ceremony, and the attackers were taken away by police.

“There were more than 1,000 people on the square playing with water at that time, and most of them were very young,” he said, adding that he was standing on the second floor of a building overlooking the square.

“I saw a man take off a young woman’s clothes, while similar situations also happened to four or five other women who were playing with water in different areas of the square at the same time.

“Later, police came to restore order, taking the men out of the square,” Li said, adding that he couldn’t tell how many men were taken into custody.

Huang Dingyi, from Haikou, capital of Hainan, who also witnessed the incident, said he saw a woman being molested by a man wearing a hat and a red scarf.

“The woman slipped when she was attacked by the man and she hit the attacker with a water pot,” he said. “The police rushed to stop the disorder from a house on the square and seized the man, who was in his 20s.”

On Thursday afternoon, media and netizens published photos of the festival celebrations on micro blogs.

A publicity officer for the county, who did not want to be identified, confirmed the incidents but said only one teenage girl had been sexually assaulted.

Some witnesses might have been mistaken about what they saw, according to the officer.

“It might be the carelessness of the girl wearing a vest playing with the water,” he said, adding the real situation was not as serious as netizens described.

In addition, Wang Xiumei, head of the county’s publicity department, said the public security bureau has been investigating the case and trying to determine how many women were attacked.

“We are paying attention to the case and will disclose the number and newest information as soon as possible,” she added.

On the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, China’s traditional day for lovers, Li and Miao ethnic groups offer water sacrifices, which has led to locals organizing a festival to attract tourists and residents to play with water.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

No need to get police involved, rather have official ‘car wash’ type girls specifically to draw attention for these cheap thrill types. Do put notices stating clearly that no stripping of regular citizens is allowed and that only the ‘Water Show Girls’ are to be stripped and that charges can be pressed if regular citizens are stripped or manhandled or attacked.

Iran’s Supreme Leader has ordered the country’s Revolutionary Guards to intensify its campaign of terror attacks against the West and its allies in retaliation for supporting the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

According to Western intelligence officials, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave the order to the elite Quds Force unit following a recent emergency meeting of Iran’s National Security Council in Tehran held to discuss a specially-commissioned report into the implications for Iran of the Assad regime’s overthrow.

Damascus is Iran’s most important regional ally, and the survival of the Assad regime is regarded as vital to sustaining the Iranian-backed Hizbollah militia which controls southern Lebanon.

The report, which was personally commissioned by Mr Khamenei, concluded that Iran’s national interests were being threatened by a combination of the U.N. sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear programme and the West’s continuing support for Syrian opposition groups attempting to overthrow the Syrian government.

Intelligence officials say the report concludes that Iran “cannot be passive” to the new threats posed to its national security, and warns that Western support for Syrian opposition groups was placing Iran’s “resistance alliance” in jeopardy, and could seriously disrupt Iran’s access to Hizbollah in Lebanon.

It advised that the Iranian regime should demonstrate to the West that there were “red lines” over what it would accept in Syria, and that a warning should be sent to “America, the Zionists, Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others that they cannot act with impunity in Syria and elsewhere in the region.”

Mr Khamenei responded by issuing a directive to Qassem Suleimani, the Quds Force commander, to intensify attacks against the West and its allies around the world.

The Quds Force has recently been implicated in a series of terror attacks against Western targets. Last year U.S. officials implicated the organisation in a failed assassination attempt against the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington. It was also implicated in three bomb attacks against Israeli diplomats in February, planning to attack the Eurovision song contest in Azerbaijan while two Iranians were arrested in Kenya last month for possessing explosives.

Intelligence officials believe the recent spate of Iranian attacks has been carried out by the Quds Force’s Unit 400, which runs special overseas operations.

“Unit 400 seems to have been involved in all the recent Iranian terrorist operations,” said a senior Western intelligence official. “The Iranian regime now seems determined to retaliate for what they regard as the West’s attempts to influence the outcome of the Syrian unrest.”

Iran has been actively supporting the Assad regime’s attempts to suppress the wave of anti-government protests that erupted in March last year. Iranian opposition groups claim teams of experienced Revolutionary Guard officers have been flying to Damascus on specially-chartered Iranian aircraft on a weekly basis to advise the Assad regime.

The extent of Iran’s support for the Assad regime was exposed earlier this month when 48 Iranians were captured and taken hostage by Syrian opposition fighters. The Iranians, who are said to include senior Revolutionary Guard officers, claimed they were conducting “reconnaissance missions”,

and their capture by Syrian opposition fighters was deeply embarrassing for Tehran, which is demanding their immediate safe return to Iran. Syrian rebels have threatened to kill the hostages unless Iran ends its support for the Assad regime.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Do not target civilians as only cowards will do that. Jailbreaks though would be nice and almost supported by locals . . .

(Reuters) – Britain has withdrawn a threat to enter Ecuador’s embassy in London to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who has taken refuge there, President Rafael Correa said on Saturday, taking the heat out of the diplomatic standoff.

“We consider this unfortunate incident over, after a grave diplomatic error by the British in which they said they would enter our embassy,” Correa said in a weekly media address.

In a statement, Ecuador’s government said it had received “a communication from the British Foreign Office which said that there was no threat to enter the embassy.”

Ecuador was furious after the British government warned it might try to seize Assange, who has been holed up in the building for more than two months trying to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

Ecuador, which has granted the former computer hacker asylum, demanded that Britain’s threat be retracted. The latest move should improve relations between Quito and London and allow more talks on Assange’s fate to take place.

For now, however, Assange remains trapped in the embassy with British police waiting outside. Britain has said it is determined to fulfill a legal obligation to send him to Sweden.

The Washington-based Organization of American States had condemned Britain’s threat, and South American foreign ministers strongly backed Correa’s position that Britain’s warning was unacceptable and could set a dangerous precedent.

Correa says he shares Assange’s fears that if handed over to Sweden, he could then be extradited to the United States to face charges over WikiLeaks’ 2010 publication of secret U.S. cables.

U.S. and European government sources say the United States has issued no criminal charges against the WikiLeaks founder and has launched no attempt to extradite him.

Ecuador’s government says it never intended to prevent Assange from facing justice in Sweden. It has said that if he received written guarantees from Britain and Sweden that he would not be extradited to any third country then Assange would hand himself over to the Swedish authorities.

Assange, whose platinum hair and friendships with the rich and famous have helped make him a global celebrity, spoke from the embassy’s balcony last weekend, denouncing what he called a “witch hunt” by the United States against him and WikiLeaks.

(Editing by Brian Ellsworth and Mohammad Zargham)

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

How important is Assange? If Assange is VERY important in a manner that could finish off the England or what not, then the MI6 could have a group of unknown baklava wearing ‘Right Wingers’ (invent an IRA type outfit loyal to England i.e. ‘Swedish Meatball Brigade’ – of course these are tight lipped Commandos or such that never set foot among civvies), barge into the embassy in a peaceful holdup would be nice, abit of bruising or slapping for drama and PC believability, but depending on how unpleasant Ecuador has been with England . . . fully expect the same to occur in English Embassy in Ecuador though if ever the situation was reversed – in tit for tat) and drag Assange out, to deliver Assange to the nearest police station then use the ‘deniability’ issue.

This will however have everyone on their toes ‘Cold War’ style. If Assange is not important enough, then forget about Assange and stop media covering the obvious narcissist and even let the guy out on the streets. If Assange goes to Equador on his own, ‘Swedish Meatball Brigade’ can suddenly have a Right Wing Branch in Ecuador (made of incidental expats or tourists) as well who can still haul Assange to the Swedish Embassy in Ecuador for ‘rape’ charges (in what could be the most farcical trial ever in the history of humanity . . . ).

Four Orthodox Christian crosses have been chopped down in different parts of Russia. The incidents come after the Femen movement attacked a cross in Kiev to protest the sentence of the punk band Pussy Riot, who received two years in prison.

Three crosses have been taken down in the Urals’ Chelyabinsk Region, and one in the Archangelsk Region, northern Russia.

By the time police arrived at the scenes the vandals had already left. Authorities have launched an investigation into both cases.

The Arkhangelsk cross was erected in the memory of the victims of political repressions, said a local priest, Hegumen Feodosy.

He also said that in recent years the monastery, situated across the street from the cross, has seen two arson attacks and a number of other acts of vandalism.

“This comes in the context of all these incidents in recent months across the country, all this anti-church hysteria waged against our diocese, against the church authority, against everything sacred,” Hegumen Feodosy said.

Russian Human Rights Ombudsman has also strongly condemned the acts of vandalism.

“Just like all normal people, I’m outraged by the ludicrous acts of these individuals. I would hope to see these low-lifes voluntarily come in and explain the motives behind their outrageous actions,” Vladimir Lukin has told Interfax news agency. “Deliberate destruction of Christian or any other religious shrines is a bacchanalia of hatred and brutality.”

The two incidents follow a similar case when the leader of the Ukrainian activist group Femen took down a cross in Kiev using a chainsaw. The act, which was filmed and photographed, later received wide circulation on the Web.

In a statement Femen declared that the cross was taken down in solidarity with the members of punk band Pussy Riot, who were sentenced to two years in jail for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Much like loudspeakers and Muslim prayers 5 times daily can offend, there is a neutral spaces issue that can anger. Are the crosses placed in a way that disenfranchise other faiths?

ARTICLE 9

Student Debt as a Moral Issue – Posted on August 26, 2012 – By Noam Shpancer

A few months ago I took several of my students to a conference in Chicago. Many of my students come from small towns in Ohio. Many have never been to a big city. Many have never left Ohio, never been on a plane before. It was thus particularly rewarding to chaperone them and witness their excitement and joy as they experienced the Second City.

One evening, strolling down Michigan Ave, the conversation turned to money. I casually asked my students about their loan burden. One of them, a perky senior psychology major planning to get her Masters and become a social worker, said she had $80,000 in student loan debt. I was shocked.

Now, I am not entirely naïve about the problem of student loan debt. Until this year, I had one myself. A university degree is still—and perhaps more than before—the passport to the American middle class life.

Demand for education is high, classroom seats in good schools are in limited supply, and so prices tend to go up. Tuition rate hikes routinely outpace inflation. Thus, students are pushed into larger debts. According to the NY Times, the average student loan debt in the US topped $23,000 last year. Much has been written recently about the attendant economic and social hazards. A debt of $23,000 is a troubling burden, for students and parents.

But a debt of $80,000 is something else entirely.

You can perhaps make a case that debt of this magnitude is justified in some unique cases—such as in the process of obtaining a highly valuable degree from a top notch institution. Some professions pay very well. And Ivy League degrees practically guarantee higher starting salaries. But in this particular context—in my reality and that of my students—such a debt is simply not justifiable.

The difference between 23k and 80k debt is a bit like the difference between drinking and driving drunk. If I see a student of mine drinking beer, I may feel uneasy, or worried. I may even say something about responsibility. But if I see a drunken student get behind the wheel, I’m obligated to intervene. An $80,000 debt, for my students, is akin to getting behind the wheel while plastered. it is a recipe for disaster.

Like most private liberal arts institutions, my university prides itself on nurturing students. Many formal systems and procedures are in place to identify and address potential problems and pitfalls students may encounter as they pursue their degrees. We track student attendance, we track their grades, we advise them on which courses to take so as to stay on track toward graduation; we make sure they take the right load—that they don’t over-burden themselves.

There is a medical clinic on campus, as well as career counselors at the ready and free psychotherapy sessions. There are writing labs and tutors and study groups and remedial classes for those who are academically behind, or unprepared. There are assorted advocacy and support group and myriad religious activities.

There are social clubs and Greek organizations and many opportunities set up to help students find company, identity, a sense of belonging; we’re trying to take care of them while they learn the tools that will facilitate their ascent in the world.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Education is a trick by ‘elites’ to get middle class people indebted (also job fair hype), so that the middle class can be turned into the poor. Most large businesses or multi-corps are already owned by elites, so all middles who do not think like, or think for the benefit of elites, or who are too independent and rebellious, or likely to take civilisation beyond the plutocrat-masses-capitalist paradigm of the 20th/21st century, will be prevented from getting jobs, negatively socialised, demogogued against, and turned into ‘the poor’. The poor will be too poor to run for election or have enough energy to think critically, and the threat to the elites from the middles end in this way. Democracy ends when people fail to recognize that plutocrats or term limitless politicians or nepotists try to control the political arena. So will the 99% please vote only for the non-plutocrat or non-nepotists or non-GLC contractors or plutocrats, and eventually vote Joe Publics into power to ensure unused land distribution as discussed throughout this blog, as well as wealth distribution with Socialist limits eventually.

Rise in fees is excluding children of average-earners
Dr Martin Stephen say private schools are putting themselves in danger

Private schools have put themselves in danger warns Dr Martin Stephen

Thousands of middle-income families have been priced out of private schools by inflation-busting fee rises.

Average fees have risen at nearly twice the rate of inflation over the past ten years.

The increases mean that private schooling is now beyond average earners in well-paid occupations, including pharmacists, architects, IT experts, engineers and scientists.

A decade ago, these professionals would have been able to afford to pay fees out of earned income.

Now, however, they would struggle without funding from other sources, according to the study.

The average annual fee for a day pupil at a private school is £11,457, up from £6,820 in 2002, researchers found. Charges have risen 68 per cent in that period, 1.8 times faster than retail price inflation over the same period, which was up 37 per cent.

Private school fees are considered affordable if they account for 25 per cent or less of the average annual full-time salary before tax.

But £11,457 represents 35 per cent of this average, which stands at £33,011, according to the study by Lloyds TSB Private Banking. In 2002, fees would have taken 27 per cent.

Tuition fee rise HAS turned thousands of middle class students off going to university
It’s catastrophic for students, abused by profiteering exam, boards and blindly discriminates against boys. We bust me bold… and put the GCSE out of its misery
Exam regulator to look into GCSE gradings after headteachers threaten legal action

Suren Thiru, economist at the bank, said the rises make it ‘increasingly difficult for the average worker in many occupations to afford a private education for their offspring’.

Those who can most easily afford the fees include accountants, senior police officers, airline pilots and production managers as fees represent 19 per cent of their annual earnings.

Excluded: The rise in fees for private education means that average earners can no longer afford independent schooling for their children

The findings follow a warning this year from the former head of a top private school that the sector is losing public confidence by becoming the preserve of the super-rich.

Dr Martin Stephen, formerly of St Paul’s School, West London wrote: ‘Independent schools have put themselves in a very dangerous position; even more dangerous because they don’t realise the danger.

‘They are pricing themselves out of the reach of most normal people in the UK. The independent sector is becoming socially exclusive in a way not seen since Victorian times.’

Dr Stephen is now director of education at GEMS, an international schools group aiming to make private education ‘affordable’.

He added: ‘The sector has become too dependent on overseas parents and is profiting from a state sector in some turmoil as a result of radical change. Independents need to realign themselves with their clients.’

The biggest rises in fees have been in London and the South West, both up 79 per cent from 2002-12. Next were East Anglia (74 per cent) and the East Midlands and South East, both at just under 70 per cent.

The number of pupils enrolled at private schools has also fallen over the decade, according to the study.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Fee price as well as goods price increases need to be monitored by government and prevented from being more than inflation rate. To ensure exclusivity, use the CLASS paradigm or requirement (i.e. the job the parent was working at determines if a private school wants to take them in), also CRIMINAL RECORD or at extreme levels ETHICAL requirements, instead of the wealth only paradigm. Not all wealthy are classy folks (even the titled have been stealing tax funds from so many cases in England), and not all poor are unsuitable or lack the high mindedness for exclusive education. For lack of a better method of retaining exclusivity, the private college has lost all ethics to become money spinners and mere businesses rather than educational or social bastions. Education now, is a farce.

Public school fees could be on a flat 10% of earnings basis regardless of whatever the parent is earning. Private school fees could be on a flat 20% of earnings basis regardless of whatever the parent is earning.

This way all social classes are able to participate after criminal record or background checks so long as they sacrifice 20% of the monthly salaries. This would make entrances on quality possible for everyone, not equate wealth with quality and create a low quality plutocracy and a worship of wealth as the basis of a society and nation and unending increases in education fees which should be free, being a basic necessity.

Police said the death of Tao Wei, China Central Television’s famous soccer commentator, was not suspicious, people.com reports.

The body of the 34-year-old was discovered in a room at the Nishihaitai Hotel in Jinan, Shandong province at 9 am on Monday after he failed to meet friends for breakfast that morning.

He was staying at the hotel for one night with three friends before continuing their journey to Qingdao.

Local police say Tao’s body showed no signs of injury. There was no sign of any disturbance in the room, and the hotel room window and door was in good condition.

Tao’s coworkers at CCTV say he was a hardworking and modest person who has a good reputation among colleagues and maintained a healthy lifestyle, according to Beijing News.

Tao was a soccer player for more than a decade before becoming a soccer commentator for CCTV. He also owned a soccer club in Beijing.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

. . . also owned a soccer club in Beijing . . . – This is the main cause for certain. ALL soccer clubs have links to gambling and the underworld. Not so surprising. Actaully all sports related people and industry players are nominally affected by gambling as well. Sports is driven to a great degree by gambling and hence the underworld, especially for those out of University level age or even career sportsmen. Look at the milder eating/fatness oriented Sumo for example which was riddled with underworld allegations. Football is far deeper enmired. The best is to legalize gambling at football stadiums much like gambling at horse races. No point keeping up pretenses. Bad debts can occur and Taowei being an owner doubtless was involved.

Who knows Taowei was conducting a sting for CCTV, if not involved in a criminal manner that might lead to certain individuals being targeted for questioning and would ‘squeal’. Had to be killed then. But worse still, the police could well have had their own informers and killed Taowei in a counter-sting operation – i.e. ‘death not suspicious’. Just legalize football gambling to prevent this sort of case from occurring. People love to gamble though limits on losses should be clearly marked like 30% of salary level at most (or 30% of lifetime asset at most) before being barred from gambling. Even the underworld would prefer to be legal so why make all these pretenses? Much like prohibition in the USA for alcohol, this is gambling prohibition in China.

ARTICLE 12

Kim Kardashian settles lawsuit with Old Navy after label used a lookalike in ad – by Daily Mail Reporter UPDATED: 19:59 GMT, 29 August 2012

Kim Kardashian has settled a lawsuit against Old Navy claiming the clothing retailer violated her publicity rights by using a lookalike in an ad.

The reality TV star, 31, sued over the spot in July 2011, claiming the company’s use of a model who looked like her might confuse consumers about her actual endorsements, which include a clothing store and shoe line.

No details about the settlement were filed with the court.

Spot the difference: Kim Kardashian, left, settled a lawsuit against Old Navy claiming the clothing retailer violated her publicity rights by using lookalike Melissa Molinaro in an ad who is rumoured to be dating Reggie Bush.

‘The lawsuit was resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties,’ said the reality TV starlet’s lawyer Gary Hecker, who declined to elaborate.

A spokesperson for Old Navy parent company The Gap Inc. was not immediately available.

The lawsuit was over the commercial titled ‘Super C-U-T-E.’

The ad began airing in February 2011 and was still being used in some of the company’s promotions months later, Kardashian’s lawsuit stated.

It featured Canadian singer-model Melissa Molinaro, who an attorney for Old Navy said at a January hearing was famous in her own right.

Doppelgänger: In the advertisement, Molinaro hair and make-up is styled almost identically to Kim’s

Molinaro was said to be dating Kardashian’s ex boyfriend Reggie Bush at the time.

But the retailer maintained her appearance in the ad wasn’t intended to draw similarities to Kardashian.

Hecker contended that some news outlets and Twitter users noted similarities in the women’s appearances.

Kardashian was seeking unspecified damages – believed to be in the region of $15 – $20 million and an order barring Old Navy from using a lookalike model again.

Seem familiar? Molinaro even tries her hand at a signature Kim ‘look over the shoulder’ pose

Plenty in common: Model and actress Molinaro was also linked to Kim’s ex Reggie Bush

Last year Molinaro said she was thrilled to be compared to Kardashian, describing it as an ‘amazing compliment.’

She had previously been a competitor on the Pussycat Dolls Presents: The Search For The Next Doll and also P. Diddy’s hit show Making The Band, where she just missed out on becoming part of now defunct female group, Danity Kane.

Melissa also scored a major role in the dance/romance film ‘Honey 2’, the follow up to Jessica Alba’s original flick, Honey, but it went straight to DVD in the U.S.

She had also released her debut single and video Dance Floor, where she is seen prancing around and posing in an array of leotards and skimpy bathing suits that show off a rounded derrière, similar to Kim’s.

Who would actually think that would be Kim K singing/dancing? Remember…. she has no talent.

– Jessica, Dallas, Texas, 30/8/2012 04:19
Rating 106

Is she going to sue the model for looking like her too?? Stupid, self-obsessed woman. I don’t think I’m alone in wishing she would just disappear.

– lauren, lala land, 30/8/2012 03:14
Rating 98

I want my girl Nicole Scherzinger to sue Kim for infringing on her look and publicity rights as well! That girl does not look THAT much like Kim and anyone who thought it was Kim in the ads must be pretty silly. Besides if Kim so much as passes gas she let’s the world know, surely people would not question if she had an endorsement deal with Old Navy-they’d know it already. Sounds like she only did this because the girl was dating Reggie, the love of Kim’s life. Kim will do anything for money as well. She is the worst type of person you could ever imagine. What a shame that Old Navy would settle this with her. Disgusting.

– LOL SMH, LA, USA, 30/8/2012 02:46
Rating 41

What UTTER nonsense!!! She obviously sued because that girl is prettier! Is she going to sue everyone who wears their hair like that on TV? A style that’s before she ever ‘arrived’. What utter nonsense. I really hate that woman.

– Greg, Belfast Norn Iron, 30/8/2012 02:19
Rating 40

Ha Ha, So we have a nobody that thinks she is somebody and a nobody trying be the nobody that thinks she is somebody, Never knowingly undersold, you can’t make this stuff up.

– Rapidlaser, London UK, 30/8/2012 01:59
Rating 23

So that girl can’t model for anyone because she looks too like Kim? Sounds a bit unfair.

– alwayshocked, Ireland, 30/8/2012 01:47
Rating 89

Get a life Kim.

– Hasan, London, UK, 30/8/2012 01:34
Rating 60

I think she looks more like Eva Longoria. Did Eva sue as well? Actually I have a friend who also has long brown hair. I should tell her to sue old navy for having the audacity to hire an actress who resembles her.

– Cassie, Wyoming, 30/8/2012 01:29
Rating 53

“…a rounded derrière, similar to Kim’s.” Let’s get real – any similarity between them ends at the ass line.

– Kingfish, Atlanta, USA, 30/8/2012 01:26
Rating 33

this women is so full of it!! Does she seriously think every women with long dark hair and brown eyes is trying to imitate her pathetic!!

– Mrs B, buckinghamshire, 30/8/2012 01:06

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Molinaro even tries her hand at a signature Kim ‘look over the shoulder’ pose. NO. There is no such thing as a signature pose. The human body has limited poses. No combination can fairly be considered ‘signature’.

This is almost Old Navy admitting to wanting to use a Kim Kardashian lookalike. However that Molinaro model could well present herself to ANY company to want to market their goods and a company that accepts that offer would be absolved of this form of infringement. A company cannot specifically seek a Kim Kardashian lookalike, BUT a Kim Kardashian lookalike could seek ANY company for promotion of themselves, NOT specifically as Kim Kardashian BUT as themselves.

You see lookalikes have as much right to a certain look as the first person who looks that way who was promoted. If Old Navy managed to sustain ‘deniability’ sufficiently, they could countersue for anti-monopoly issues and modelling industry ‘Fair Opportunity’ laws. Sort of like Kim Kardashian demanding a monopoly on ALL people who look like her, which suppress the opportunity of all lookalikes from having a viable modelling career which is obviously illegal.

Either Old Navy had the intent and owned up, or just wasn’t steady on their feet in thinking through on the anti-monopoly issue. This is where foreign advertising companies who never heard of such and such ‘stars’ could be employed for ‘deniability’, so long as intent is not traced back. If coincidences occur there still is no case then. Melissa Molinaro incidentally could counter sue Kim Kardashian for preventing her from having a modelling career with Old Navy if they have the stomach and CORRECT sense of indignation to re-open up the case, not for money but an apology that will set precedents for case studies in law.

Nick Clegg last night demanded a swingeing new tax on the rich to help ease the financial squeeze being suffered by the less well-off as austerity measures bite.

The Deputy Prime Minister said Britain’s wealthiest should be made to contribute more to the ‘economic war’, which has been made worse by the double-dip recession.

He said an extra ‘time-limited contribution’ from the rich would be seen as fair given the scale of Britain’s financial problems.

Without it, he suggested, Britain could suffer a breakdown in ‘social cohesion’ as seen during last summer’s riots.

Calls for a new tax to soak the rich are likely to antagonise the Tory Right, who argue that cutting taxes is the best way to boost growth and persuade the well-off to pay more.

The Liberal Democrat leader gave little indication of where he thought the new tax should be levied, although he suggested it would be in addition to the party’s existing proposal to levy an annual ‘mansion tax’ on homes worth more than £2million.

In an interview with the Guardian he said the prolonged nature of the battle to tackle the deficit left by Labour called for exceptional measures.

He said: ‘If we want to remain cohesive and prosperous as a society, people of very considerable personal wealth have got to make a bit of an extra contribution.

‘In addition to our standing policy on things like the mansion tax is there a time limited contribution you can ask in some way or another from people of considerable wealth so they feel they are making a contribution to the national effort?

Return of the Laws: Mr Clegg says he wants disgraced David Laws back in Government despite Mr Laws resignation over his expenses

‘What we are embarked on is in some senses a longer economic war rather than a short economic battle.’

Mr Clegg said it was vital for the Government to ‘really hard-wire fairness into what we do in the next phases of fiscal restraint’. He added: ‘If we don’t do that I don’t think the process will be either socially or politically sustainable or acceptable.’

This morning, Susan Kramer, the Lib Dem treasury spokesman in the House of Lords, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We can’t give a free ride to people. If we’re going to be a coherent society everyone has to carry a share of it.’

She added: ‘At the very upper end income tax probably doesn’t work effectively… a wealth tax is a very interesting way to go.’

In a gloomy assessment, Mr Clegg said it was now clear that what once appeared to be a ‘short, sharp economic battle’ was ‘clearly turning into a longer term process of economic recovery and fiscal restraint’.

He said this would involve ‘sacrifices over a longer period of time, a longer period of belt tightening as a country’ – making it essential that the rich are seen to be playing their part.

Mr Clegg said details of his new tax proposals would be unveiled at next month’s Lib Dem conference.
Nick Clegg’s Lib Dems have refused to support David Cameron’s proposed boundary changes following the collapse of the Government¿s plans for Lords reform

Forced vote: Nick Clegg’s Lib Dems have refused to support David Cameron’s proposed boundary changes following the collapse of the Lords reform

He suggested the tax was likely to target ‘very high asset wealth’. Changes to the top rate of income tax have been all but ruled out following the Coalition’s controversial decision to reduce it from 50p to 45p earlier this year.

Mr Clegg also gave the strongest hint yet that David Laws is set to return to Government in the forthcoming reshuffle.

Mr Laws was forced to quit his post as Treasury Chief Secretary after less than a month following revelations about his expenses.

But he has continued as an informal adviser to Mr Clegg, particularly on economic matters and is now tipped to return as a minister in the Cabinet Office.

Mr Clegg said: ‘I have never made any secret of the fact that I want to see David Laws back in Government.’

Mr Clegg also urged David Cameron to force a vote on proposed boundary changes, which the Lib Dems have refused to support following the collapse of the Government’s plans for Lords reform.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Lets see which MPs are part of the problem that refuse to ratify this Wealth Tax bill. A person earning 1+ million annually should be subject to 80% taxes IMHO. That would mean 200K a year earnings which 99% of the population will not likely achieve given the sluggish jobs growth and England’s lack of positioning on any major trade routes. How many people earn 16,000+ a month (i.e. 200K a year) in England anyway? Wealth distribution otherwise cannot occur. A person earning 10+ million annually should be subject to 90% taxes. That would mean 1M a year earnings which is well beyond most of the WORLD. How many people earn 80,000+ a month in England anyway? So think wealth tax for redistribution of wealth. All that sequestered wealth is not going to make 99% lives better, so might as well tax, then redistribute for healthcare or education and perhaps more council housing for the poor or other cost absorbing initiatives like free power and water or even staples – courtesy of your fat cat plutocrat millions earning types . . . good one Clegg, so who’s going to set up a another series of riots to make sure the 1% understand that the Wealth Tax is for the good of everyone if convincing the corrupted crony Capitalist colluders in Parliament won’t work?

After shooting to fame on Sex, Lies and Rinsing Guys, it’s fair to say Danica Thrall knows how to manipulate men to get her own way.

But now her flirtatious behaviour has landed her in hot water in the Celebrity Big Brother house yet again as she faces eviction for a second time.

The 24-year-old beauty was slammed by her housemates for causing a ‘love triangle’ between former pals Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino and Prince Lorenzo Borghese.

Emotional: Danica Thrall burst into tears as she confronted Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino about nominating her for a second time

And she was forced to listen to every word of their criticism as Big Brother ordered the group to make their nominations in front of each other yet again.

Before the contestants even took to the sofas to deliver their verdict, Martin Kemp admitted he had been shocked by the glamour girl’s behaviour in the ‘Gods and Mortals’ task, explaining she had been ‘teasing’ both The Situation and Prince Lorenzo.

Speaking in the Diary Room, he said: ‘The whole argument between Danica and The Situation has been caused by Danica’s bed-hopping. She teases those boys.
‘It’s disgraceful’: MC Harvey fumed about Danica’s behaviour to Prince Lorenzo following the nominations

‘They think they can snog her. Danica led Lorenzo to the point where I thought he was going to propose. She knows what she’s doing and she’s very good at it.’

But worse was yet to come when Danica’s fellow housemates slammed her behaviour in front of her.

MC Harvey said: ‘I’m sick of this love triangle situation, and I think she was one of the main causes of The Situation and Lorenzo becoming distant when they used to be friends.’

And the beauty was shocked when The Situation turned against her for a second time, saying: ‘Danica uses my emotions against Prince. Although I do care about her, let’s see how the public feels.’

Upsetting: The housemates were forced to make their nominations in front of each other yet again

Meanwhile, Samantha Brick added: ‘We’ve got very different views on how you treat and respect men.’

Danica was left in tears at the end of the nominations and decided to confront The Situation on why he had put her up for eviction again.

‘I would never have done that to you. Never,’ she said. ‘I thought out of everyone I could rely on you, like I said I could.’

Upset: Danica looked on as she was nominated by Ashley, Harvey, Julie, Samantha and The Situation

But the Jersey Shore star claimed his decision was tactical, saying: ‘I practically love you, but I know you have a boyfriend.’

And Danica’s actions caused a further divide between the group when Prince Lorenzo attempted to stand up for her against MC Harvey.

However, the rapper immediately hit back in a scathing attack, suggesting the model’s behaviour has been ‘disgraceful’.
‘I’m sick of this love triangle’: The Celebrity Big Brother housemates fumed that they were fed up of the model’s incessant flirting

‘I’m sick of this love triangle’: The Celebrity Big Brother housemates fumed that they were fed up of the model’s incessant flirting

‘National treasure’: Coleen admitted to Big Brother that she had previously been afraid of nominating Julie

I nearly chocked on my horlicks when Coleen referred to Julie Goodyear as being a national treasure, that gum chewing trouble maker is everything but.

– Kal, Manchester, 31/8/2012 07:39
Rating 2

MC Harvey is a nasty piece of work and not nice to women – Danica is right; he is a bully and a ring leader. Ashley is a stupid but nasty little boy too with no respect for women. Julie Goodyear is a disgrace. I don’t respect Danica’s career but she is not insincere – she is a very honest woman – I like her!

– laura, oxford, 31/8/2012 07:36
Rating (0)

Harvey you numpty you can’t talk about Danica after what you did to Alisha. While all you eejits are looking and hating on Danica the one you should be watching is Julie ‘clacking gum’ Goodyear she’s the silent assassin. Mike the walking ego is playing a great game knowing he’s got the house’s sympathy over Danica he’s playing it for all it’s worth. Prince Lorenzo is a sweetie but hardly stupid. Relationships formed in these situations are doomed before they start. Danica is flirting BUT hardly crime of the century… Unless you’re Mike who doesn’t like not having her 24/7 to himself. I don’t want Danica to leave I think Sam should go she’s boring

– Oxfordshire Annie, UK, 31/8/2012 07:27
Rating (0)

Even though she has faults Danica is so pretty – islingtongrl, Renfrew Scotland, 31/8/2012 03:43 ———————————————————————————- What a sad little comment that is! She’s ugly on the inside, no one knows who the real Danica is. Being pretty will only get you so far and eventually it will lead to trouble, hope she’s prepared for it. As a man i acknowledge she’s pretty, but some men can see through the lipstick and flirty hair playing. She’s a little tramp and i hope in future a real strong powerful man destroys her emotionally and morally!

– Robert, Liverpool, 31/8/2012 07:26
Rating 1

Please, please please vote to keep the lovely Julian in. He’s a lovely and genuine person and deserves to win. Martin Kemp second. As for Julie, well, what a vile, foul mouthed back stabber she is!

– jane, south coast, 31/8/2012 07:22
Rating 3

Harvey – You are a vile Hypocrite, and that is 10 time worse than Danica!!!

– RJ, London, 31/8/2012 07:20
Rating 1

Danika is a vile woman.

– only me, Bedford, 31/8/2012 07:13
Rating 1

My my, aren’t we all judgemental. I’m sure nobody commenting here has ever done anything others wouldnt approve of. I’m not a big fan of her behaviour in the house (or at leastbwhat C5 have chosen to show us), but I think she had a point last night. The boys have formed a nasty gang against her. For my money, she’s just a silly girl. The real nasty piece of work is Julie. What a malevolent crow. She is playing every single one of the housemates for fools. She is the true villain of the piece, not sideshow Danica.

– Miffster’s Mum, Nowhere, 31/8/2012 07:10
Rating (0)

Can not stand Danica! Spoilt madam!

– nicole, London, 31/8/2012 07:06

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Is this Danica even a real person? Lets pretend if not because the issue is quite interesting . . . Danika could make a fortune TEACHING others to use that mojo as she does (uncontrolled mojo btw leads to rapes of even Burkha clad women, even though their eyes cannot even be seen, a man though can sense the ‘spirit’ of such women and get excited – so the chips fall in trhe Middle East . . . Danika however actually IS in control!).

Don’t condemn and put Danika in proper perspective and context. Danica could change the sex lives of the ‘untrained’ FOREVER perhaps via some seminars or what not! This is talent and must not be blunted by attacks like this. Maybe not suitable for some reality shows or some social situations, but must not be lost or weakened! Danika could in fact create a renaissancxe in sex positivism as well as overhaul the henpecked feminazi manipulated psychiatric establishment and nridge the alpha male group to mainstream society!

Danika sound like beyond mere sex, but can be the MIND OF SEX. Just immature and needs proper context (reality TV is no context for anything btw, just aggravation and lots of poseurs bullying those watching unawares, or if not ‘their own size/skill’.). Freud style genius in the making here, though not for the lower classes, this is a high society skill to be propagated! Incessant flirting is only so in the podunk village Danika comes from, that is probably peopled with retards, so when finally in the limelight Danika goes into overdrive and makes everyone feel threatened . . . Danika should find or create that niche for what she does so well! Don’t miss this comment!

ARTICLE 15

Hordes of randy Republicans were expected to be a boon for Tampa’s Sunshine State many strips clubs, but owners and dancers are still waiting for their RNC stimulus package – by Rich Schapiro / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS – Thursday, August 30, 2012, 6:05 AM

Scantily-clad beauties perform at Mons Venus strip club in Tampa on Tuesday. Strippers were promised a booming business with the Republican National Convention in town, but so far it’s been a bust.

TAMPA — The wildly anticipated Republican nudie-bar bonanza has turned out to be a double D-sized bust.

Strippers across this mammary mecca were anticipating an orgy of business this week from the crush of conventioneers.

Instead, three days into the RNC, Tampa’s dancing beauties were still waiting for their stimulus packages.

“My friend told me I’d make $3,000 a night this week,” said a slinky brunette named Jordan, as she gazed dejectedly around an empty Mons Venus bar on Monday, the Isaac washout day in Tampa. “I’ve made $100 tonight and it’s already 3 a.m.”

“I don’t even know what I’m still doing here,” she added. “This sucks.”

Don’t even know what ‘I’m’ still doing here? Don’t be ungrateful! Just look at the jobless GRADUATES who owe the ‘Education-Financiar-Complex’ while interest piles up. Lucky to be earning so much in such nice conditions!

OUR TEAM IN TAMPA REPORTS LIVE FROM THE RNC

The scene was no different at 2001 Odyssey, located just across the street, where some strippers were dealing with their own personal deficit crises.

A dancer named Sicily said she was actually down more than $100 after working Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. Strippers at 2001 Odyssey pay a stage fee every night — and Sicily said the club raised it from $50 to $100 this week.

“I wish I was going home with one dollar in my pocket,” Sicily said. “That’s sad.”

Warren Colazzo, owner of Thee Dollhouse, had predicted that the convention haul would triple the cash brought in during previous Super Bowls hosted in Tampa.

But between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. Wednesday, his sleek club drew only one extremely drunk conventioneer in an ill-fitting suit who was seen being reprimanded by a burly security guard.

A pair of cocktail waitresses, in skin-tight American flag corsets and barely-there blue thongs, looked bored.

Asked how her week has been, Karen Kennard, an ample-chested blonde, broke into a pained smile.

“Hashtag 2012 RNC money myth,” quipped Kennard. “I’ve worked four Super Bowls. I was hoping to be inundated financially in Super Bowl proportions, but it definitely hasn’t happened yet.”

Not all of the delegates have acted like choir boys, of course. A smattering of randy Republicans have mixed canoodling with conventioneering.

A portly delegate in a white button-down shirt and khaki pants showed up at 2001 Odyssey Monday night still wearing his convention credentials.

Every five minutes or so, he disappeared into a back room to get a lap dance.

“That guy can’t get enough,” one stripper remarked.

An hour or so later, a politico in a blue blazer emerged from the private VIP area tailed closely by a busty brunette. He made a beeline for the club’s ATM machine and pulled out $400 before walking back out, his hand on the small of her back.

Monica Fox, a stripper at Mons Venus, said a pair of GOP bigwigs stopped by Monday afternoon — and one of them treated her like royalty.

“He had money, and he had no problem spending it,” Fox said.

But she was one of the very lucky ones. At 4 a.m. Wednesday, a heavily tattooed stripper named Anna surveyed the scene at 2001 Odyssey — where a gaggle of girls were jostling for the attention of three guys in suits — and offered her take on why business was so bad.

“To be honest, I think a lot of them just hired escorts,” she said. “That’s more their style.”

See how Tampa strip clubs prepared for the RNC in this video report

rschapiro@nydailynews.com

Craig Warga/New York Daily News

Dancers at Mons Venus strip club in Tampa told The News that business has been terrible.

At 100 per night, 2-3K a month is quite fair! This is relaxing half day shift of 4 hours at most, to just prance around a pole, get some exercise, or get groped and pawed abit! Look at all those degree holding debt ridden graduates who earn nothing for years! Remember to put some aside for your retirement girls! Education should be free, and even then there might be no takers for education!

The Rev. Benedict Groeschel, a New York priest, is apologizing following criticism he’s receiving for saying that priests accused of child sex abuse are often seduced by their accusers and that a first-time offender shouldn’t go to jail.

NEW YORK — A New York priest apologized Thursday after coming under criticism for saying that priests accused of child sex abuse are often seduced by their accusers and that a first-time offender should not go to jail.

The Rev. Benedict Groeschel of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal made the comments in an interview with the National Catholic Register published this week. The website for the conservative independent Register then removed the story and posted an apology for publishing the comments. Groeschel and the friars did as well.

Asked about working with priests involved in abuse, Groeschel said, “Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster – 14, 16, 18 – is the seducer.”

In expanding on his answer, Groeschel also referenced Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State coach convicted of sexually abusing boys, referring to Sandusky as “this poor guy” and wondering why no one said anything for years.

He also added later that anyone involved “on their first offense, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime.”

Editor in Chief Jeanette De Melo posted a note apologizing for “publishing without clarification or challenge Father Benedict Groeschel’s comments that seem to suggest that the child is somehow responsible for abuse. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our publication of that comment was an editorial mistake, for which we sincerely apologize.”

Groeschel also posted an apology to the site. “I did not intend to blame the victim. A priest (or anyone else) who abuses a minor is always wrong and is always responsible. My mind and my way of expressing myself are not as clear as they used to be. I have spent my life trying to help others the best that I could. I deeply regret any harm I have caused to anyone,” he said.

The friars expressed regret for the remarks and highlighted Groeschel’s medical history. They said he had been in a car accident several years ago, and that “in recent months his health, memory and cognitive ability have been failing.” They described the comments as “out of character.”

The Archdiocese of New York repudiated the comments in a statement posted on its website, calling them “simply wrong.”

“Although he is not a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, what Father Groeschel said cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged. The sexual abuse of a minor is a crime, and whoever commits that crime deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” spokesman Joseph Zwilling said.

Groeschel is not a priest with the Archdiocese in any specific parish but has worked with it in the past. He helped start the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in 1987. He hosts a weekly show, “Sunday Night Prime,” on EWTN, the Catholic television network.

Deacon Bernard Nojadera, executive director of the Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said, “There is never a time when you can blame a minor who is sexually assaulted for the crime perpetrated upon him or her. The responsibility is always with the adult. Sexual abuse of a minor is abhorrent and indefensible. It is especially heinous when the abuse is perpetrated by a cleric.”

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said there needs to be consequences for figures like Groeschel, “who say incredibly hurtful and mean-spirited things.”

Comments like Groeschel’s “discourage victims, witnesses and whistleblowers from reporting horrific crimes both known and suspected,” he said.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Another contrived NLP article? Well here’s an answer for answerings sake. This Groeschel guy is too old, mellow and tired, also too deeply socialised to think through the whys or argue. All of the above articles’ responses were not so easy to elucidate or apply immediately under the barrage of abuse the poor guy got hammered with (as per the NLP manufactured b.s. . . . of course . . . ). As mentioned, earlier, the reptillian brain and the day-to-day personality are entirely different things, and children being partially socialised can and do communicate at different levels. THAT is what Groeschel meant. Not that sexual abuse is normal, especially in consensual cases, but that everything takes 2 hands to clap. Yea for sure, the other Benedict (Arnold? Nope . . . ) needs to grow a thick shell, no amount of NLP fake articles will make child abuses go away . . . honesty is better than harbouring paedophile Catholic (or whatever denomination) Priests. Time for those overdue melons . . . no mellowing here!

Thai Girl Sentenced to Death for Transporting Drugs Posted on February 11, 2012

Raveeploy Sangkam is a salesgirl from Thailand swallowed 83 pellets containing drugs. She was sentenced to death by a High Court in nearby Malaysia for trafficking in 765.9gm of cocaine.

She committed the offense in a bathroom of the Serdang Hospital in Sepang between 5-8 November, 2010. Raveeploy was detained at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (Malaysia) upon arriving from Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was a transit stop for her before taking a flight on to Bangkok.

The authorities found nothing in her bag but when they brought her to the hospital and did an X-ray examination, they found foreign objects in her body. 83 pellets were found (in her stool).

According to testimony in court, the accused had met an Argentinian man named Rado on the Internet. Raveeploy then travelled to Argentina to meet Rado. It was said that Rado had asked her to carry the drug pellets and promised her US$5,000 upon her arrival in Bangkok.

The accused swallowed the pellets 7 hours before her flight

This sentence is ludicrous, but the woman concerned is obviously pretty stupid as well. Killing people doesn’t deter those who are greedy, desperate or stupid – all it does is fuel the demand for the drug suppliers to find more people to run the risk.

It’s high time the entire approach to drugs changed, but in the meantime while we live in this barbaric world, stay away from any illegal substance in Asia.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Though there was intent to distribute dangerous drugs, none were distributed and the offender did not harm anyone and does not need to lose her life. Save taxpayer on the applied hanging death (a circus of viciousness if anything) and kick the offender Raveeploy Sangkam out of the country you prison contractor enriching judges! Send them to the freest of the 3rd world or those drug legalized countries where they will be happy with the laws there, and can get stoned, grow psychedelics and hallucinate until the next Messiah arrives (this is up to Thailand to decide when of course – nabbing dealers and traffickers who would otherwise be salesmen and merchants and growers there will result in more rubbish). Give them a nice list of countries to choose from or just END PROHIBITION LAWS. But bar them from using passports after they reach their destination. Another drug addict or few in those areas will make no difference. The onus of prevention is upon the authorities. This is wasted manpower and funds when a simple solution as above can be used. Well send them to their fav place since none died, waste of money. Otherwise amend those laws and legalize with price controls and state controlled sales!

ARTICLE 2

Big Ben terror gang get shorter jail terms: Credit for early pleas that saved taxpayers £2.5m By Rebecca Camber Last updated at 8:01 AM on 10th February 2012

Ringleader: Mohammed Chowdhury was jailed for 13 years and eight months for his part in the plot

Nine men who plotted a Mumbai-style series of terror attacks on Britain had their sentences cut by a fifth yesterday after their guilty pleas prevented a £2.5million trial.

A judge ruled that the fanatics who plotted a Christmas bombing campaign with targets including the London Stock Exchange, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey should serve 20 per cent less time behind bars in exchange for the 11th-hour plea bargain.

Mr Justice Wilkie said the gang deserved double the 10 per cent credit usually given for a guilty plea because their high-security trial would have lasted five months, costing the taxpayer an estimated £2.5million.

The ruling means that the group’s ringleader Mohammed Chowdhury, 21, will walk free in less than six years.

Other members of the gang received even shorter terms, with one set to serve less than two years.

All nine defendants pleaded guilty last week on the eve of their trial following a so-called ‘Goodyear’ direction hearing, in which defence barristers received guidance from the judge about the length of sentence the defendants would expect if they admitted guilt.

Shah Rahman
Gurukanth Desai

Abdul Miah
Omar Latif

Usman Khan
Mohammed Shahjahan

Mohibur Rahman
Nazam Hussain

Guilty: (Top row and left on 2nd row) Shah Rahman, Gurukanth Desai and Abdul Miah, who were part of the quartet guilty of the most serious terror charges in the case. On the 2nd row, right, is Omar Latif, from Cardiff. Left to right on the third row are Usman Khan and Mohammed Shahjahan from Stoke and on the bottom row are Mohibur Rahman and Nazam Hussain, also from Stoke : THE SENTENCES IN FULL

Mohammed Chowdhury – extended sentence of 18 years and 8 months with a custodial element of 13 years and eight months.
Gurukanth Desai – extended sentence of 17 years with a custodial element of 12 years
Nazam Hussain – indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of eight years
Usman Khan – indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of eight years
Omar Latif – extended sentence of 15 years and four months with a 10 years and four months custodial element
Abdul Miah – extended sentence of 21 years and 10 months, with a 16 years and 10 months custodial element
Mohibur Rahman – five years in prison
Shah Rahman – extended sentence of 18 years with a custodial element of 12 years.
Mohammed Shahjahan – indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of eight years and ten months.

Yesterday Mr Justice Wilkie said: ‘In most cases a plea of guilty on the outset of the trial results in a discount against sentence of the order of 10 per cent.

‘This is a trial of unusual complexity and length. Had it [been] fought it was estimated that it could have lasted up to five months at huge further public expense.’

He added that because the defendants pleaded guilty to ‘very serious’ offences and exposed themselves to ‘lengthy’ prison sentences, ‘in my judgment the appropriate discount for a plea of guilty in this case is of the order of 20 per cent’.

Last night Tory MP Patrick Mercer questioned whether the cost of a trial should determine the tariff of terrorists who could have killed thousands.

Had they faced trial, the plotters could have expected sentences of about 20 years.

‘We have to ask if it’s right that cost overrules a serious and credible punishment,’ Mr Mercer said.

‘Whilst there is more to this than meets the eye, a light sentence like this has always got to be balanced against its deterrent effect. Six or so years seems remarkably lenient in respect of plans to murder huge numbers of people.’

Target: The group had lined up Big Ben (right) on their terror hitlist of iconic London landmarks

Target: The London Stock Exchange was on a list of terror targets found by police

Plot: The group planned to send a mail bomb to the American Embassy in London

Plot: The group planned to send a mail bomb to the American Embassy in London

Police arrested the Al-Qaeda-inspired radicals on December 20, 2010, four days before they planned to plant their first bomb in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange.

They found a handwritten list of targets which included the U.S. Embassy and the homes of London Mayor Boris Johnson, the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral and two rabbis.

Target: London Mayor Boris Johnson’s name and home address appeared on a handwritten list of targets found at Choudhury’s home by police

The gang also carried out surveillance of other possible targets including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Palace of Westminster and the London Eye.

The group planned to send five bombs in the post to London synagogues and the Church of Scientology headquarters, as well as spreading panic in Stoke-on-Trent by planting bombs in pub and club toilets.

Their plot was foiled after the security services bugging their homes and cars heard discussions of a ‘Mumbai’ atrocity on the streets of Britain, mirroring the guerrilla-style 2008 attack in India.

Yesterday police released photographs of the gang holding a series of secret meetings after Chowdhury, of Tower Hamlets, and 29-year-old Shah Rahman, from Newham, travelled from east London to meet Cardiff plotters Omar Latif, 28, Gurukanth Desai, 30, and Abdul Miah, 25, in a country park in Wales.

Mr Justice Wilkie said the discussions did not just relate to ‘a single imminent incident’ but ‘a range of possible types of attack and targets’, as well as a plan to ‘finance, construct and operate a terrorist training facility’ in Pakistan.

Surveillance: Chowdhury and Shah Rahman were both seen studying Westminster Abbey

Tourist attraction: The London Eye also came under surveillance

Urban beauty spot: Roath Park in Cardiff, where the gang first met

Chowdhury, Shah Rahman, Miah and Desai admitted preparing to commit an act of terrorism. Chowdhury was handed a 13 year and eight month sentence while Shah Rahman was jailed for at least 12 years, Miah for at least 16 years and 10 months and Desai for at least 12 years.

They will be eligible for release after serving half of their sentence, and are likely to spend even less time behind bars owing to time served on remand.

Of the Stoke-based cell, Shahjahan – described as a serious jihadist who once appeared in a BBC documentary talking about bringing Sharia law to the UK – was given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of eight years and ten months.

Khan and Hussain were given indeterminate sentences with a minimum term of eight years. Mohibur Rahman was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to possession of Al-Qaeda magazines featuring bomb-making instructions.

Latif was jailed for 10 years and four months for assisting the others to engage in acts of terrorism by attending two planning meetings.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

They planned to terrorism and they DESERVE credit for saving the taxpayer money????? What planet do these judges live on?

– MS, England, 10/2/2012 06:47
Rating 15

A plea bargain for this type of attempted crime should be 20 years at least and serve the whole 20 years to avoid life without parole, but that would be in America.

– +Judy+, AMERICA, 10/2/2012 04:27
Rating 27

Once again we get the nonsense about “sentenced to 96 years” when the terrorist with the heaviest sentence will be out in six years.

– Stan Dupp, Letsbee Avenue, UK, 10/2/2012 03:58
Rating 33

Terrorism should = life with no parole!

– ExpatUSA, USA, 10/2/2012 02:57
Rating 34

These despicable, cowardly scumbags should have been sent down for life. Full life.

– Alan Rowley, Sa Kaeo, 10/2/2012 02:06
Rating (0)

I often wonder why the Press frequently give a total prison time as the sum of the number of individual sentences. In this case 94 years ? Gives false impression I think

– Trooper909, London, 10/2/2012 01:44
Rating 28

Well done to those who helped to stop this evil act. I feel sorry for the many genuine Muslims who are often victimised for their faith because of these twisted individuals.

– goodgirl, hull, uk, 10/2/2012 01:34
Rating 13

I can’t believe that people like this are actually walking the streets of Britain !! What a sad state of affairs the politicians of Great Britain have left this country in over the last 40 odd years !!

– Steve, Auck., NZ, 10/2/2012 01:08
Rating 26

Why can’t we have a law that if any person is convicted of terrorist acts or intent to commit terrorist acts, they must be given life sentences without parole? That would ensure that they would never be released, and they would rot away for ever in prison. I would suggest that a special prison be built for such people. Somewhere near the Falklands comes to mind.

– Toby, Salisbury, 10/2/2012 00:44
Rating (0)

6 years in jail for planning mass murder – Unbelievable.

– george, st Ives cambs, 10/2/2012 00:06

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Save on the jail terms and kick them out of the country you prison contractor enriching judges! Send them to the worst of the 3rd world or those fundo countries where they will be happy with the extreme faithers there, and can pray and tend camel herds and eat cactus until the next jihad occurs (this is up to England to decide when of course – sending troops theer will result in more rubbish). Give them a nice list to choose from. But bar them from using passports after they reach their destination. Another terrorist or few in those areas will make no difference. The onus of prevention is upon the authorities. This is wasted manpower and funds when a simple solution as above can be used. Well send them to their fav place since none died and the plot failed, waste of money.

FILE – In this Dec. 8, 2009 file photo, Alyssa Bustamante, 15, listens during a brief hearing where her attorney entered not guilty pleas on her behalf to charges of armed criminal action and first-degree murder in Cole County Circuit Court in Jefferson City, Mo. Bustamante, who admitted stabbing, strangling and slitting the throat of a young neighbor girl, wrote in her journal on the night of the killing that it was an “ahmazing” and “pretty enjoyable” experience — then headed off to church with a laugh. The words written by Bustamante were read aloud in court Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, as part of a sentencing hearing to determine whether she should get life in prison or something less for the October 2009 murder of her neighbor, 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten, in a small town west of Jefferson City. (AP Photo/Kelley McCall, Pool, File)View Gallery

FILE – In this Dec. 8, 2009 file photo, Alyssa Bustamante, 15, listens during a brief …
This photo released Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 by the Cole County sheriff’s office shows Alyssa Bustamante. Bustamante, 18, who confessed to murdering a young neighbor girl, was described as a thrill killer by prosecutors and a mentally disturbed child by her defense attorneys as a judge heard arguments Tuesday on whether she should be sentenced to life in prison or something less. (AP Photo/Cole County Sheriff’s Office)Enlarge Photo

This photo released Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 by the Cole County sheriff’s office shows …

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri teenager who had described the slaying of a young neighbor girl as an “ahmazing” thrill made an emotional apology Wednesday to the girl’s family and was sentenced to a potential lifetime in prison.

Moments before her sentence was imposed, 18-year-old Alyssa Bustamante rose from her chair — with shackles linking her ankles and holding her hands to her waist — and turned to face the family of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten, whom she confessed to killing in October 2009.

“I really am extremely, very sorry for everything. I know words,” she said, pausing to take a deep breath and struggling to compose herself, “can never be enough, and they can never adequately describe how horribly I feel for all of this.”

She later added: “If I could give my life to get her back I would. I’m sorry.”

Elizabeth’s mother, Patty Preiss, who on the first day of Bustamante’s sentencing hearing called her an “evil monster” and declared “I hate her,” sat silently, staring forward as Bustamante’s finished her apology.

Cole County Circuit Judge Pat Joyce then sentenced Bustamante to the maximum possible sentence for second-degree murder — life in prison with the possibility of parole. She ordered the teenager to serve a consecutive 30-year term for armed criminal action, a charge resulting from her use of a knife to slit the throat and stab Elizabeth after she had strangled her into unconsciousness.

Elizabeth’s family declined to comment about the sentencing, as did Bustamante’s family.

There were no immediate indications that Bustamante planned to appeal the sentence.

Bustamante originally had been charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty last month to the lesser charges to avoid a trial and the possibility of spending her life in an adult prison with no chance of release.

Bustamante was 15 years old at the time of Elizabeth’s murder in the small town of St. Martins, just west of Jefferson City. Evidence presented during her hearing revealed that Bustamante had dug a shallow grave in the woods several days in advance, then used her younger sister to lure Elizabeth out of her home with an invitation to play. Bustamante, who had hidden a knife in a backpack, said she had a surprise for Elizabeth in the forest. The surprise turned out to be her demise.

During her two-day sentencing hearing, prosecutors referred repeatedly to an entry Bustamante wrote in her journal on Oct. 21, 2009 — the night of Elizabeth’s death — in which she admitted to having just killed someone.

“I strangled them and slit their throat and stabbed them now they’re dead,” Bustamante wrote in her diary, which was read in court by a handwriting expert. “I don’t know how to feel atm. It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the ‘ohmygawd I can’t do this’ feeling, it’s pretty enjoyable. I’m kinda nervous and shaky though right now. Kay, I gotta go to church now…lol.”

Bustamante then left for a youth dance at a Mormon church her family attended while hundreds of volunteers began a two-day hunt for the dead girl. Although she initially lied to authorities about Elizabeth’s whereabouts, Bustamante eventually confessed to police and led them to Elizabeth’s leaf-covered shallow grave.

Defenses attorneys had argued for leniency after presenting evidence from family members and mental health experts about Bustamante’s troubled childhood. Bustamante was born to teenage, drug-abusing parents; her father was imprisoned and her mother abandoned her, leaving her in the legal custody of her grandmother.

After a suicide attempt on Labor Day 2007 as she was starting eighth grade, Bustamante was prescribed the antidepressant Prozac. Her dosage had been increased just two weeks before Elizabeth’s death. A defense psychiatrist testified that the medication could have made Bustamante moodier and more violent and contributed to the murder — a theory rejected by a different psychiatrist testifying for prosecutors.

Charlie Moreland, one of Bustamante’s attorneys, described the sentence imposed Wednesday as “a harsh punishment.”

“This was a child who had been spiraling out of control, but has treatable conditions,” Moreland said.

Under Missouri guidelines, Bustamante would have to serve 35 years and 5 months in prison before she is eligible for parole, said Department of Corrections spokesman Chris Cline. It’s also possible that the more than two years Bustamante spent in jail while awaiting her sentencing could be counted toward that time.

After spending several weeks at a diagnostic prison, Bustamante could be placed in either one of Missouri’s two female prisons or sent out of state. Cline said department officials also would evaluate whether Bustamante should be kept separate from other adult woman inmates.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Save those 40-60 years worth of taxpayer funds and offer the ‘A Life fer a Life’ Xian option. If none of the family take up the ‘killback’ then shoot, harvest and dispose (harvested parts returnable for final rites when receipients die – spiritual requirements). So many tax funds do not justify unless the work done in prison can offset the expense. Sounds like something spiritual here though . . . Bustamante looks abit like that Ruth Marx character from ‘The Net’ . . . Once again, where possible, all criminals should in the interest of saving tax monies spent on prison contractors, be sent to any country which will have them as regular citizens.